Richie Leone

Richie Leone

No. 3     BC Lions
Date of birth	March 10, 1992
Place of birth	Roswell, Georgia
Career information
Status	Active
CFL status	International
Position(s)	P/K
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight	215 lb (98 kg)
College	Houston
High school	Roswell
Career history
As player
2014	Baltimore Ravens*
2014	BC Lions*
2015	Pittsburgh Steelers*
2015–present	BC Lions
*Offseason and/or practice roster member only.
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star	2015
CFL West All-Star	2015
Career stats
Playing stats at CFL.ca Playing stats at NFL.com

Richie Leone (born March 10, 1992) is a gridiron football punter and kicker for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. He previously attended the University of Houston.

Early career

Leone played high school football at Roswell High School at the quarterback, punter, and kicker positions.^[1] While in high school, he averaged 44.1 yards per kick.^[2]

From 2010 to 2013, Leone played college football for the Houston Cougars as a punter and kicker and started for all four years.^[3] He was on the Conference USA first team in 2012 and the American Athletic Conference second team in 2013. Leone was also a three-time semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award.^[3] He averaged 43.1 yards on punts and placed the ball within the opponents' 20-yard line on 52.4 percent of attempts during 2013.^[4] In his senior year, Leone was named a second team All-American.^[5]

Professional career

Leone was one of five punters invited to the 2014 NFL scouting combine.^[6] He went undrafted in the 2014 NFL Draft, but was signed as a free agent by the Baltimore Ravens on May 12.^[7] Leone competed with Sam Koch for the punter position in training camp,^[8] and played in three preseason games.^[9] He was waived on August 25 before the beginning of the regular season.^[10] Leone was signed by the BC Lions on October 20 to their practice roster, but left the team a month later.^[11][12]

On January 27, 2015, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Leone to challenge Brad Wing for the starting punter position, but he was released in May.^[12][13] He returned to the BC Lions before training camp as the Lions reportedly searched for a single player to handle punting, kickoffs, and kicking.^[14] Leone remained on the active roster after the preseason as he fulfilled all three kicking duties. He made his CFL debut against the Ottawa Redblacks on July 4, where he scored two field goals from 11 and 13 yards as well as an extra point.^[15] The following game, on July 10, Leone kicked a 56-yard field goal, setting a BC Lions record for longest field goal and tying the game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders 29–29 with 31 seconds remaining; a game which the Lions won in overtime.^[16] As of August 3, 2015, Leone had the highest punt average in the CFL (50.1 yards).^[17] He began his season with 13 consecutive made field goals before missing a 46-yard kick on August 6 in a game against the Edmonton Eskimos.^[18]

Season statistics

As of September 16, 2015[19]			Kicking							Punting							Defense
			PAT		FG
Year	Team	GP	Att	Made	Att	Made	Pct	Long	Single	No	Yards	Avg	Long	Single	Net	Net Avg	STT
2015	BC	10	18	16	21	17	81.0	56	0	72	3,605	50.1	83	5	2,790	38.8	2

References

1. Meoli, Jon (4 August 2014). "Rookie punter trying to seize his chance with Ravens". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
2. Holcomb, Todd (27 December 2009). "Georgia: Mason, Rogers lead all-class all-state team". MaxPreps. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
3. "Richie Leone". Houston Cougars. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
4. Smith, Brian (20 February 2014). "UH punter Leone ready for next stage at NFL draft combine". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
5. Shelton, Christopher (4 January 2014). "Leone prepares for final UH kick". The Daily Cougar. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
6. "UH punter Richie Leone hoping for NFL chance". KHOU. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
7. "Transactions". Baltimore Ravens. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
8. Butt, Jason (14 May 2014). "Could Richie Leone push Sam Koch for his job as Ravens punter?". Baltimore Beat Down. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
9. "Richie Leone". Baltimore Ravens. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
10. Wilson, Aaron (25 August 2014). "Ravens make a series of cuts as they trim roster to 75 players". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
11. "Transactions". BC Lions. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
12. Beamish, Mike (7 June 2015). "BC Lions kicker, former Maple Ridge resident Paul McCallum officially granted his release". Maple Ridge Times. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
13. Bryan, Dave (27 January 2015). "Steelers Sign P Richie Leon". Steelers Depot. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
14. Beamish, Mike (5 December 2014). "B.C. Lions: Can Leone put the boot to rivals?". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
15. "Burris leads Redblacks to victory over B.C. Lions". The Star. The Canadian Press. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
16. Beamish, Mike (11 July 2015). "Leone's leg, Lulay's arm lead Lions to "crazy" win over Roughriders". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
17. MacKenzie, Eric (3 August 2015). "Leone's leg the least of Lions' problems". Vancouver 24 hrs. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
18. Moddejonge, Gerry (7 August 2015). "Tying kick wasn't a guarantee, says Edmonton Eskimos head coach". Edmonton Sun. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
19. "Richie Leone". CFL.ca. Retrieved 16 September 2015.