{"id":699192,"date":"2026-05-28T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/699192\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T11:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:00:17","slug":"corey-mace-saskatchewan-roughriders-could-keep-two-kickers-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/699192\/","title":{"rendered":"Corey Mace: Saskatchewan Roughriders could keep two kickers in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Matt Johnson\/3DownNation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have two suitors for their vacant place-kicking position and it appears there\u2019s a chance the club could end up keeping both.<\/p>\n

\u201c(We could keep both kickers) potentially,\u201d head coach Corey Mace told the media in Regina on Wednesday<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve done it in the past and had more than one kicker. We\u2019ll see how that shakes out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan Kim, an American out of Michigan State, went a perfect five-for-five on his preseason field goals with a long of 51 yards. The 25-year-old native of Fredericksburg, Pa. is the Spartans all-time leader in field goal percentage at 82.1 and was named second-team All-Big Ten in 2024.<\/p>\n

Alex Hale, a Global from Australia, went three-for-three on converts during the preseason but just one-of-three on field goals. Both misses came from considerable distance, however, at 56 and 57 yards. The 27-year-old played collegiately at Oklahoma State, where he made 79.6 percent of his field goal attempts and was named second-team All-Big 12 in 2023.<\/p>\n

The Roughriders released longtime kicker Brett Lauther this offseason, ending his eight-year run with the team. The 35-year-old connected on a league-worst 72.2 percent of his field goals during the regular-season in 2025 and missed a 39-yard field goal attempt in the Grey Cup.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan utilized a couple of other kickers amid Lauther\u2019s struggles, including Michael Hughes, an American out of Appalachian State, and Campbell Fair, a native of Oakville, Ont. who played collegiately at the University of Ottawa. Hughes was released by the team earlier this month, while Fair was cut last October.<\/p>\n

The club has had Kim and Hale try long field goals during preseason action and during practice, something that Mace indicated is intentional heading into the regular-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been known to go out and trot those guys out there for long ones because we have faith in it,\u201d said Mace. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to see and get a little bit of an understanding of what these guys\u2019 true range is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Saskatchewan Roughriders opened training camp on May 10. Saskatchewan lost 20-15 in its first preseason game against the Calgary Stampeders but won 31-27 in its second preseason game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Saskatoon. Final roster cuts are due on Saturday, May 30, after which the team will play its first regular-season game against the B.C. Lions on Saturday, June 13.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan recently selected Michigan State defensive back Malcolm Bell with their first-round pick in the 2026 CFL Draft, adding a key piece to pair with Tevaughn Campbell. The team\u2019s other major offseason additions include defensive lineman James Vaughters and returner James Letcher Jr.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the Roughriders finished first in the West Division standings with a 12-6 record. The team went on to defeat the Montreal Alouettes in the 112th Grey Cup in Winnipeg, marking the club\u2019s first championship in 12 years.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Matt Johnson\/3DownNation. All rights reserved. The Saskatchewan Roughriders have two suitors for their vacant place-kicking position and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[166835,166836,230059,69896,49,48,7028,521,522,520,527,191504,144333,84768,45083,55574,24373,82],"class_list":["post-699192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-3down","tag-3downnation","tag-alex-hale","tag-brett-lauther","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-football","tag-jonathan-kim","tag-kicker","tag-kicking","tag-riders","tag-roughriders","tag-saskatchewan","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}