The battle for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats job may be underway, but it hasn’t really begun.
Sure, Cody Mandell and Brett Maher have been asked to perform during the first eight days of Ticats training camp but their involvement has been limited and sporadic: several punts in quick succession during a special-teams drill or a few field goals to end practice.
It’s clear this is a competition that will be won or lost during the Canadian Football League team’s two pre-season contests.
“It always comes down to what you do in the games. That’s our life, that’s our business,” said special-teams co-ordinator Jeff Reinebold. “The bottom line is what you do when the lights come on and what are you doing to help us win today when we absolutely have to have it?”
Reinebold and the rest of the Ticats coaching staff have done their best to recreate the pressure of competition, forcing the kickers to perform in various game-like scenarios: We need a directional punt here or a game-winning field goal there. At one point, head coach Kent Austin attempted to “ice” Mandell by calling a “timeout” before a “game-winning” field-goal try.
Surrounded by his teammates, all doing their best to distract him, Mandell made the kick anyway. A few moments later Maher made his, too.
That’s been camp, in a nutshell.
To this point, there hasn’t been much to choose between the two, though both clearly have their strengths and weaknesses. Mandell, who was exclusively a punter during his four years at Alabama, has a strong leg — he connected from 60 yards on Monday — but his field-goal kicking has been inconsistent.
Maher, meanwhile, has looked steady as a place-kicker and clearly understands the directional nuances of the CFL game — he was Ottawa’s kicker in 2014 — but doesn’t appear to have Mandell’s raw power.
Another key difference? Their personalties.
“Brett is more of a quiet guy, a Midwestern kid. He grew up in Nebraska and, at the risk of stereotyping, he looks like middle America,” Reinebold said. “On the other hand, Cody grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, and, if you’ve been there, it’s known as a place where you can have a good time. That’s the personality he has.”
Both say the predictable things about supporting the other guy, each in their own way. Maher “wishes no ill will” while Mandell likes the catchphrase “iron sharpens iron.” It’s as friendly as a competition can be where the loser will likely end up unemployed.
But the hard part hasn’t started yet. The Ticats play their first pre-season game this Saturday in Toronto then another six days later in Hamilton and each kicker might get two or three kicks and a few punts to win the job.
“It’s not what you do when it’s easy, when you can put it on the tee exactly how you want, when you can read the commissioner’s name on the ball when you’re punting,” Reinebold said. “It’s what you do in the critical moments when, as we say in the special-teams meetings, when man measures man.”
