Stokes signs in Edmonton
Courtesy Edmonton Journal:
Special teams play a huge role in the success of Canadian Football League teams and the Edmonton Eskimos took a step Monday they hope will help their kick return game become more of a factor in 2008.
Having earlier released Tony Tompkins, who just didn’t get it done last season, the Eskimos signed former CFL special teams all-star Keith Stokes.
Head coach Danny Maciocia said he wasn’t happy with last year’s return game and it simply had to get better.
“He’s a proven returner,” Maciocia said of the 29-year-old Stokes who joined Winnipeg last late season and played a key role in the Blue Bombers’ trek to the Grey Cup game. “In the three or four games he played last year, he looked pretty good. In the Eastern final he returned a kick for a touchdown … for us he’s one option.
“If he doesn’t make us better, someone else in camp will.”
In two regular-season games with Winnipeg last year, Stokes gained 392 all-purpose yards and in three post-season games he ran for 468 combined yards, including an 80-yard punt return touchdown in the Eastern final versus Toronto, whom he played for in 2006.
The East Carolina University graduate had an outstanding CFL debut in 2002 with the Montreal Alouettes. He was an East Division all-star, was named the eastern outstanding rookie and won his first Grey Cup.
Traded by Montreal to Winnipeg in 2004, he was named the league’s most outstanding special teams player and a CFL all-star while returning four punts for touchdowns.
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