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August 24, 2021

Camacho Takes Winding Road Back To Den

Although the outcome of the Lions first home game in 656 days didn’t go as planned, one key takeaway is that the new placekicker, Jimmy Camacho, had a perfect day. He made good on all three field-goal attempts in the narrow 21-16 defeat, including one from 49 yards out to open the scoring on the game’s first drive.

Not bad, considering Camacho came into the game raw. He didn’t attend any practices throughout the week, no physical interaction with coaches and teammates, until he got on the team bus to BC Place last Thursday.

“I didn’t even know any of the players and a lot of the players [teammates] were like ‘who’s this guy?’” Camacho recalled.

He landed in Vancouver on Sunday the 15th, went through mandatory COVID-19 protocols where he was quarantined for three days in his hotel room. While he missed practices throughout the week, he spoke to head coach Rick Campbell and special teams coach Don Yanowsky on the phone about the best possible scenarios for the game against the Elks.

“I possibly would play. I possibly wouldn’t play. It was going to be a game-time decision for which scenario was going to help the team the most,” he said.

Before Camacho arrived in Vancouver, his windy road took him to two places and two completely different football environments. He was invited to Hamilton Tiger-Cats training camp but was released in early August. He then flew back to Arizona where his apartment and car were located. Camacho first received a call from Tucson Sugar Skulls of the Indoor Football League and ended up playing for two games before making the trip back to Canada.

“It was kind of the same deal. I didn’t practice with the team, they just plugged me into the games. I did decent,” Camacho explained.

“It’s a challenge when you’re switching between leagues and flying all over the place like I probably haven’t been in the same place for more than 10 days for the last, I don’t know, probably two months,” he added.

It has been a whirlwind of a year for Lions kicker Jimmy Camacho. After switching addresses more than once, he is ready to make a home in the Lions den.

The former Fresno State Bulldog was supposed to make his Lions debut in 2020. But due to COVID-19, different management, free agency, the national and global draft, all of those completely altered the Lions plans for specialists.

While the Lions were urging in search for a new placekicker last weekend, Ryan Rigmaiden, the director, U.S. scouting for the club contacted Camacho’s kicking coach, long-time NFL veteran, John Carney, for the next possible pro-ready kicker.

“Ryan and Neil [McEvoy], they hadn’t seen me kick in person. So they kind of wanted to get a gauge to know who I was as a kicker and who I was as an athlete,” Camacho said.

“Then Neil called me, we kind of talked about the situation and the quarantine aspect of it. And just the situation in general and how it was different than years past. I think one thing that I can do is take on new challenges, it’s part of who I am. My life has been about taking on new challenges.”

There was a long to-do list for Camacho: look for a place to live, open a bank account and also figure out how to take the Skytrain to Vancouver from Surrey. But when he arrived at BC Place last Thursday, everything other than football was on his mind.

During the pre-game, he found long-snapper Tanner Doll and punter Stefan Flintoft, the latter also making his debut for the Lions. The three managed to turn a hectic situation into a great special teams performance.

“I think Stefan did a great job holding. I think Tanner did a great job snapping and this was Stefan’s first game as well so yeah, he did a phenomenal job,” Camacho said.

“I would probably credit 70 percent of what goes down on field goal is the snap the hold and the blocking. Then the other 30 percent is me. I got to give credit to everybody who’s blocking and obviously the snap, the hold and then the coaches for trusting me on the very first drive to go on and get three points.”

Chris Rainey started the game with a 57-yard kickoff return. Followed by a two and out, Camacho had a tough task to complete when he lined up for a 49-yard field goal attempt on the first drive of the game.

“I can come out and make 1,000 kicks in a row in practice, but it’s never going to feel quite the same as in the game. Me having played games already so recently, really put me in a position to handle the emotion of the game, and to kind of handle the environment,” Camacho said.

He split the uprights while all the circumstances might’ve held him back. Then the swagger and confidence started to grow on Camacho. The 49-yard strike in the first quarter was followed by 43 and 29-yard field goals later into the game.

It has been a whirlwind of a year for Lions kicker Jimmy Camacho. After switching addresses more than once, he is ready to make a home in the Lions den.

As a big NBA fan, he used the analogy of Steve Kerr from the 1996 NBA Finals. Kerr may only get a few shots in a game, but he’ll make them count. He also vividly remembered Damian Lillard’s clutch threes in his career and Camacho would mold the same mindset into him as well.

While the special teams stood out last Thursday, the Lions failed to secure a victory at home. When the Lions get back to practice this week to sort out the plan for back-to-back Ottawa games, the kicking situation remains competitive as the club brought in Felix Menard- Brière last week and Jake Ford has returned from the U.S. Flintoft will strive for his second appearance in orange and black.

“I think this week in practice is going to be big because you know we have a selection of kickers and punters that you can go with, and whatever gives us the best opportunity to win. I trust that coach Campbell and coach Yanowsky are going to put us in a position to win,” Camacho said.

The Lions will travel to Ottawa to take on the REDBLACKS this Saturday at 4:00 pm PT (AM730 pre-game at 3:00 pm).