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“It was just all about who was going to give me the opportunity. Were the Redblacks going to give me the opportunity or were there other guys coming in? There were times when the stress of camp gets to you a little bit, but you have to believe in yourself. I’d say I was pretty confident I was going to win a job.”

Photo by John Woods / The Canadian Press

If that comes across as arrogant, it’s not, in any sense. He’s a confident, likeable, unflappable kid just doing his part. He is drawing attention to himself only because the poise and performance he has shown on the field belie his status as a rookie. And some of the best kickers in the game have taken notice.

“For a young man doing what he’s doing, it’s a great start,” said Lui Passaglia, who tops the CFL charts with 875 career field goals. “I wish I would have started like that. I was trying to play receiver, kick field goals and punt. My first year I barely survived it. I think I was, like, 60 per cent.”

It was 1976 and Passaglia was good on just 28 of 49 attempts for a rather unfortunate 57.1 per cent. But he also averaged 41.4 yards per punt and 47.8 yards per kickoff and caught a 10-yard pass for a touchdown, the only reception of his illustrious career.

Paul McCallum, whose 62-yard field goal is the longest in CFL history, started his career in 2004 with Saskatchewan and didn’t have the confidence Ward has displayed.

“I was just scared shitless that I was going to miss,” recalled McCallum. “That’s a different mindset. If you can get rid of that feeling, if scared changes into confidence, it makes a world of difference. That being said, it can’t be a false sense of confidence. It has to be a deep-rooted confidence and also not arrogance. It’s a hard thing to describe. You’ve got to be confident in your abilities, but you also have to remember what got you there.”