After Friday night’s 22-12 Stampeders victory in Edmonton, Rob Maver stumbled into a swarm of reporters in the visitors’ locker-room at Commonwealth Stadium.

“I know you’re a superstar,” Maver, with mock exasperation, told fellow kicker Rene Paredes, the object of all the media attention after a five-for-five night in the field-goal department, “but can I get to my locker, please?”

When the anecdote was detailed in the following day’s paper, Maver wryly commented: “That’s the only way I can get into the paper.”

Maver is jesting, but it does bring up an interesting point. Place-kicker Paredes’ stellar season — including the shattering of the CFL record for most consecutive field goals — is somewhat overshadowing the fact that punter Maver is having a pretty nifty season in his own right.

The fourth-year bootsmith out of the University of Guelph leads the CFL with a net punting average of 37.3 yards and shares the league lead with 19 punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. That said, Maver — who in his Twitter bio humourously claims he is better known for his love of The Bachelor reality show than football — is perfectly happy for all the bouquets to be tossed at Paredes’ talented feet.

“I’m happy for him because I know how hard he works in the off-season and he deserves every bit of recognition that he gets,” says Maver of his locker neighbor. “As far as being a punter, you don’t want people reading about you. It’s one of those positions — kind of like the long-snapper — where the less they hear about you, the better. So I’m perfectly fine with the amount of attention I’ve been getting lately because that’s basically saying I’m doing my job. So, I’m just focusing on the great things that are happening and that’s always Rene.”

Paredes is quick to return the praise.

“First of all,” he said, “I find him to be the best punter in the CFL. He doesn’t need to have a 65-yard average, but he does what he has to do. He places the ball the best in the CFL and he’s very consistent. You need him to place the ball inside the five or the 10, and he’ll do it. I think the biggest thing he’s improved on since I met him is the mental part of it. His mental part has improved tremendously.”

Maver was the CFL’s all-star punter in 2012 but he’s arguably having an even better year in 2013.

“I think I’ve been more consistent this year,” Maver nods. “I haven’t put up as many big games this year in terms of averages, but I think I’ve been a lot more consistent across the board. For the most part, I’m pretty happy with the way my game has been going. To this point in the year, I have been a more consistent player and that is what your aim is as a specialist is to be as consistent as you can be.”

“I think that people outside the stadium probably don’t know that it’s OK he doesn’t have a big (gross) average,” says Paredes. “But Coach Huff, Coach Kilam, they know what he’s doing (with his directional punting). So, that’s the biggest part for us is that our head coach and our special-teams coach — we’re doing what they ask. That’s the biggest thing going forward.”