For Oscar Chapman, the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 next game will be played on a Saturday and a Sunday.<\/p>\n
It will be Sunday morning in Chapman\u2019s native Adelaide, Australia when members of his family go online to watch the 27-year-old punter\u2019s second CFL game \u2014 Saturday\u2019s matchup with the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium (5 p.m., TSN, CKRM).<\/p>\n
Chapman\u2019s loved ones didn\u2019t have much of an opportunity to see him in action when the Roughriders opened their regular season on June 13 with a 31-27 victory over the visiting B.C. Lions. The proficiency of the Saskatchewan offence was such that Chapman was called upon to punt only twice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m beyond happy not to get out there,\u201d Chapman said with a chuckle after Thursday\u2019s practice at Mosaic Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo go out there and score as many points as we can and see the offence drive, that\u2019s what we want. If I\u2019m not out there, that\u2019s the best thing for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
He claimed a one-sixth share of a team record in his inaugural performance with the Roughriders \u2014 punting the fewest times of anybody in a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got really good at kicking into the little net on the sideline,\u201d said Chapman, who joined the following members of the team\u2019s two-punt fraternity:<\/p>\n
Bobby Mulgado: Two punts for 82 yards at B.C., Aug. 20, 1959.<\/p>\n
Paul McCallum: Two for 85 yards vs. B.C., Oct. 25, 1998.<\/p>\n
Jamie Boreham: Two for 79 yards at Toronto Argonauts, Oct. 30, 2008.<\/p>\n
Ricky Schmitt: Two for 72 yards versus B.C., Nov. 10, 2013 (playoffs).<\/p>\n
Kaare Vedvik: Two for 104 yards at Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Sept. 10, 2022.<\/p>\n
Chapman\u2019s first CFL punt \u2014 a towering 48-yarder \u2014 was launched two minutes before halftime. He added a 44-yard punt with 5\u00bd minutes left in the third frame.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime we\u2019re only punting a couple of times a game, it\u2019s a good thing,\u201d Head Coach Corey Mace said. \u201cIf we can continue that, that would be awesome.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019ve got to roll out that punt team, we\u2019ve got full confidence in what Oscar can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mace is one of two Grey Cup-winning Roughriders coaches with whom Chapman has associated.<\/p>\n
Kent Austin, who led the 2007 Roughriders to a title, has been on Auburn University\u2019s coaching staff since 2023. Chapman punted for the Auburn Tigers from 2020 to 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was known as the \u2018CFL legend,\u2019 \u201d Chapman recalled. \u201cHe was really cool \u2026 really nice. I got to know him a little bit, but I heard legendary stories about him and his time in the CFL.\u201d<\/p>\n
After averaging 43.5 yards per punt at Auburn, Chapman signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent and spent training camp with the NFL team.<\/p>\n
Chapman signed with Saskatchewan on Feb. 23 and ultimately got the nod over fellow Australian Jesse Mirco, who punted for the Roughriders in their 25-17 Grey Cup victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Nov. 16.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Chapman) has a big leg and good hang time,\u201d Mace said. \u201cHe does a lot of things right and he has done it at a high level in college.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lights won\u2019t be too bright for him in any situation. I have nothing but great things to say about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan has switched punters and thereby employed an Australian in its past two seasons as the defending Grey Cup champion.<\/p>\n
Josh Bartel, the first Australian in franchise history, was the Roughriders\u2019 punter in 2014. Ricky Schmitt was the punter for the 2013 Grey Cup champions.<\/p>\n
Bartel rejoined the team in 2016 to begin a three-season stint. Saskatchewan subsequently deployed Aussie punters Adam Korsak (2023-24) and Joe Couch (2025) before turning to Mirco with five regular-season games remaining in the 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n
Chapman and Alex Hale are the first full-time Australian kicker\/holder combination in Roughriders history.<\/p>\n
Korsak pinned the football for fellow Australian Ryan Meskell on Oct. 13, 2023 against the Stampeders. Meskell flew into Calgary on the day of the game after the regular kicker, Brett Lauther, became ill. Meskell went 4-for-4 on short notice.<\/p>\n
Hale, who went 3-for-4 in his CFL debut, and Chapman are preparing to make the trip to Calgary for their second regular-season game as teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so excited to get out there,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cThe first game day here, it was unreal. Getting to see all the fans and the environment, it was really cool. I\u2019m pretty excited to play this week as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Oscar Chapman, the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 next game will be played on a Saturday and a Sunday. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-745936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745936","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=745936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}