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Justin Palardy can’t deny it would be pretty cool to be listed as the greatest place kicker in Canadian Interuniversity Sport history.
But he could be on the verge of something he considers a heck of a lot cooler: A spot on a season-opening Canadian Football League roster.
Read More: [url]http://www.metronews.ca/halifax/sports/article/514647–kicking-off-on-a-cfl-career
The Saint Mary’s Huskies kicker/punter is being talked about as a potential top-three-round pick in Sunday’s Canadian Football League draft in Toronto. If that happens, there is a good chance he won’t be back at school in the fall, ending his realistic bid to smash all-time CIS records for scoring and field goals.
“Records are cool and all, but I’m not playing to break records — I’m playing to get a paycheque,” Palardy said. “I want to go to the CFL and if I can go this year, I’m gonna go. That’s my whole dream and goal. It’s what I’ve been working toward.”
Palardy, a three-time Atlantic University Sport all-star, is 90 points away from catching Jesse Lumsden’s CIS scoring record of 410 and five field goals away from catching Frank Jagas’s mark of 70. He already has AUS records in both categories.
The Murray Siding, N.S., native spent last week working out with four CFL clubs — the Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos — and described his performance as “fairly average” while doing an abnormal amount of kicking.
Palardy said he usually kicks 10 field goals per day. Last week, he estimates he averaged more than 50.
“It takes its toll on the leg,” he said. “It’s constant leg extension and you can only handle so much.”
Rob Maver of the Guelph Gryphons is the top-ranked kicker/punter according to CFL scouting and TSN analyst Duane Ford. But some scouts consider Palardy the best pure field-goal kicker available.
The Stampeders are one team reportedly looking for exactly what Palardy has to offer.
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