With one more regular season game left to play, Levi Steinhauer is about to cap off a surprising and strong rookie campaign with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“It's felt good to come in here and to contribute in some ways, so from that stand point it's been good so far,” said the Moose Jaw native after practice on Tuesday at Mosaic Stadium.
Steinhauer has appeared in 13 games this season with the Riders after being selected in the fifth round, 40th overall, in the 2013 CFL Draft. Not too many fifth round picks stick with teams, but Steinhauer impressed during training camp and preseason, earning a spot on special teams, turning into a solid contributor on one of the top units in the CFL.
“I just wanted to get a shot at the beginning, I just went into camp with the mindset to make this team and then I made the team, got a couple opportunities on special teams to show what I could do and it just went from there,” explained Steinhauer.
It usually takes players a bit to adjust to the speed of the professional game and Steinhauer said he was no different with that being the biggest adjustment in making the jump from CIS to the CFL.
“Once you get that down and get use to the speed, you settle down a bit and go from there,” he said.
The 6-foot-3, 235 lbs. rookie has adjusted nicely to the speed of the game and had some bone crunching hits throughout the season, one that even drew a fine from the CFL for helmet to helmet contact against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Making the jump into the CFL can be tough, but Steinhauer said that the veterans on the team have been helping him every step of the way.
“Everybody is really helpful,” he said. “Especially for me on the d-line, Ricky Foley helps me out a lot, John Chick helps me out and Tearrius George and all them, so they've helped me out a lot. Everybody out here is willing to help you and they want to help you get better because then the team can get better, so everybody has been really helpful.”
Special teams has been where Steinhauer has really made his mark. He was drafted as a defensive end out of the University of Saskatchewan, but has shown an ability to get down field to make key tackles, picking up 11 special teams tackles and two forced fumbles.
“It's awesome,” he said. “I love playing special teams. I played special teams my second year in college, so to come here and play special teams again, it's been a lot of fun.”
Steinhauer has also served as the long snapper for five of the last seven games due to an injury to Cory Huclack. That was something that initially drew the Riders coaching staff's eye during training camp, was his ability to serve as a back up long snapper and that's came in handy late in the season.
The local product did have to deal with some injury problems of his own, injuring his knee during the Labour Day Classic and missing two games. He also missed the game two weeks ago against the BC Lions, but was back in the lineup this past weekend in Calgary to make two special teams tackles in the big game against the Stampeders.
He said he's happy to play his part on the team.
“We pride ourselves on not giving up yards and just trying to pin guys deep and things like that,” Steinhauer said. “We don't go out there and take it easy, we take it to heart what we can do on special teams and how we can effect the games.”
Steinhauer will be hoping to have more of an effect as the Riders head down the stretch and into next season. He could see some added playing time this week in a meaningless regular season finale against the Edmonton Eskimos. Then it's on to the playoffs, where the Riders will host the West Semifinal against BC.
Tue, Apr 23, 6:00 PM
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