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Features June 12, 2025

A Special Start

Special teams coordinator Craig Dickenson and his group got off to a strong start on Saturday at McMahon Stadium.

The special–teams unit got a third-down stop in the first half on a fake punt and recovered a kickoff to begin the second half in the season–opener and helped the Stampeders to a 38-26 victory in Week 1.

Despite also giving up a return touchdown in the game, Dickenson says they can focus on the positive and learn from the mistakes.

“I think you try to emphasize the good,” he explained. “You try to build off of that but you use the negative play which was a big return, you try to teach off of it. Hopefully we learn from that, there was some good teaching done off of that and a lot of that stuff you need to learn in game, believe it or not. You make a mistake, you’ve got to learn from it and hopefully we will.

“Overall, I was proud of the guys. I thought they played hard and played physical.”

It was a windy night at McMahon this past weekend and Dickenson and the Stamps kickoff team used it to their advantage. Rene Paredes kicked a ball short into the wind and the coverage team executed the rest of the play to perfection giving the offence the ball deep in Edmonton territory to begin the half.

“We had a gameplan into the wind and we had a gameplan with the wind,” said Dickenson. “I have to give credit to the guys who executed, Rene with a great kick and Jeshrun (Antwi) with a good job getting to it and our front–side guys played fast.

“We practiced that but only once, but that’s the CFL for you.”

Kelon Thomas has entered his third season with the Stamps and has been a special–teams playmaker through his first two years. He’s excited to continue to keep contributing to the team on special teams under Dickenson.

“I pride myself on (special teams) just coming from junior football,” he said. “I just try to make a name for myself. I try to play as hard as I can on the football field and if it’s on special teams I’ll do that, if it’s defence, I’ll do that. I just do whatever it takes to put my name out there for my family and be a good foundational factor on the team.”

The former Okanagan Sun standout says he enjoys working with his veteran special–teams coordinator.

“It’s a brand new team,” he explained. “We’re just working together trying to be organized and be one unit and be the best team we can be. (Dickenson) was here last year, he’s a good coach and a great person to work with.”

The Stamps special teams will look to continue to make a positive impact for the Red and White when they head to Toronto for a Week 2 matchup with the Argonauts. Kickoff is Saturday at 2 p.m. MST.