Mitchell Blair
Christopher Milo has undergone a role-reversal. Last year at this time, Milo was handling the punting chores for the Saskatchewan Roughriders while watching Sandro DeAngelis handle the field goal kicking. Fast forward to today and Milo is watching Ricky Schmitt do all the punting while he handles all the field goals and handle all the field goals is what he has done as he is perfect this season connecting on all 21 attempts.
The 3rd year Rider struggled last season when it came to three pointers. He was 11 of 17 when head coach Corey Chamblin decided to make the move to bring in DeAngelis. Some players could have taken that the wrong way, but Milo used the signing of DeAngelis as a positive as he strived to get better.
“Having Sandro around was great. He was a savvy old vet and he’s one of the best kickers in this game,” Milo revealed. “I learned a lot last year and sometimes you do that when you are struggling. The organization never gave up on me and allowed me to go to Don Sweet’s camp. It made me feel a helluva lot better as a football player.”
Sweet, a former Montreal Alouette, has a kicking camp and its one that has seen other kickers like B.C’s Paul McCallum and Calgary’s Rene Paredes go through it. He says having Sweet tell him some of the little nuances about the kicking game are certainly paying off right now.
“Don just told me to keep calm and trust in my swing,” Milo said. “The ball hasn’t changed, the goalposts haven’t changed, and the field hasn’t changed. If I do all the small things right and trust my swing, the ball will go through. I think when I look back at it my confidence may have wavered a little bit, but he got me back in the right frame of mind and now I have that confidence back.”
That might be an understatement from the 27-year-old from Montreal who has become a fan favourite. While he didn’t have the endorsement of Head Coach Corey Chamblin last year prompting the arrival of DeAngelis, he certainly gets the endorsement from Chamblin now.
“We’ve put Chris in some good spots,” Chamblin said. “We aren’t asking him to kick the long ones, we are just asking him to kick the ones that we know he can make in his range. He’s very confident in his kicking abilities right now and I’m very happy to see him doing what he’s doing.”
Milo is obviously happy to be the only place-kicker left in the CFL to have not missed a field goal this season. He isn’t thinking about that when he lines up for a three pointer. Instead, he is taking the same mantra that the team takes each and every week as they prepare to play.
“Whether it be a 20 yarder or a 45 yarder, the object is go 1 for 1. The team goes out each and every week saying they want to be 1-0 and every time I go on the field to kick I want to be 1 for 1.” Milo stated. “You don’t think about numbers until the season is over. You wait for your number to be called and when it is, I want to do what I’m supposed to. I have a lot of trust in Weston (Dressler) as my holder and with Cory (Huclack) as my snapper and we’re having a lot of fun out there. I just hope it continues.”
Milo will look to extend his streak of 21 consecutive field goals on Sunday afternoon when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers come to town in the annual Labour Day Classic with the home team looking to extend their record to a CFL best 8-1. Kickoff is 2 p.m.
