Renaud putting boots to rivals

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This article was published 08/06/2013 (4498 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG Blue Bombers veteran punter Mike Renaud thinks he’s been having a solid training camp so far — and his boss agrees.

Bombers head coach Tim Burke said Friday that the Bombers veteran is winning the battle to be the club’s punter again this season — one of the most closely watched position battles heading into the 2013 season.

“I think Mike Renaud is really punting the ball well. He really did a great job today, I thought,” said Burke.

Asked to rank the performance of his four punters to date, Burke gave the front-runner position to Renaud. He said seventh-round draft pick Billy Pavlopoulos has a slight edge right now on Brett Cameron, Bob’s son, for second spot. Aussie punter Tim Hutchison is in fourth place, Burke said.

Renaud says he’s not concerned with his competition.

“I’m just focusing on myself and controlling what I can control,” said Renaud. “I’m as confident right now as I’ve ever been. I know what I’m capable of. I’m healthy, strong and ready to go.”

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The ranks of Bombers sick bay continued to swell Friday, with cornerback Jovon Johnson and linebackers Rene Stephan and Sam Pope among the new players sitting out with what Burke described as tweaks and soreness.

Other players who were sitting previously and were still sitting on Friday included receivers Chris Matthews, Rory Kohlert and Isaac Anderson, linebacker Henoc Muamba, centre Mark Dewit and running back Chris Garrett. None are seriously injured, Burke said previously, but Kohlert could be out at least another week with a hamstring injury.

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Also on Friday, the Bombers announced they are approaching 25,000 season-ticket sales, a franchise record. The club said there are just five more days left to purchase season-ticket packages.

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American Max Hall, who’s in camp auditioning for the role of quarterback understudy, said Friday he’s found the environment very conducive for learning under offensive co-ordinator Gary Crowton and incumbent quarterbacks Buck Pierce and Justin Goltz.

“Coach Crowton does a good job because he’s fairly new to the CFL, too, and can explain it, saying, ‘I first thought this then realized it’s this,’ and so on,” Hall said. “That helps us. And Buck and Justin do a really good job, too. Today there were a couple of things and they were really good about just explaining me through it. They’re really good guys, especially Buck. He knows what’s going on. He’s a really good guy to learn from, a veteran guy in this league who knows what’s going on.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca