Ghost of Gizmo: Leake hoping to be special teams star that has eluded Elks

Edmonton Elks' Javon Leake (22) escapes a tackle by Calgary Stampeders' Ben Labrosse (29) during first half CFL football action in Calgary, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

There was a time, ages ago, when fans in Commonwealth Stadium rose and roared in unison as Henry (Gizmo) Williams picked his way through a horde of defenders to return another kick for another touchdown.

Now there is only the ghost of Gizmo.

• Get the latest Edmonton updates right to your inbox

Since Williams retired in 2000 — having set more than 20 CFL records for punt and kick returns, including 31 return touchdowns — it’s been a mostly fruitless search for a long-term returner to give some punch to the Edmonton Elks’ return game.

In the last 10 years Edmonton has had only one return touchdown — in 2023 by Deontez Alexander, who played only two games for the team.

The latest to try is Javon Leake, who last year had the fastest recorded speed by a ball carrier in professional football. He had some success last season, but never reached the end zone.

“I’m back at returner and I’ve got a point to prove this year,” said Leake, who joined the team last year and can only imagine the feeling of a return touchdown. “Man, here with coach (Mark) Kilam and knowing the returner who was here, Gizmo, it’s going to feel amazing.”

• Edmonton Elks’ Leake relishing his return to running back position

While it is one of the most exciting plays in football, returning a kick for any substantial gain, let alone a touchdown, takes a co-ordinated and efficient effort by lot more players than just the one with the ball.

“There are a lot of things that have to go right,” said Kilam, a highly respected special teams coach before assuming the head coaching job with the Elks this winter. “Twelve guys have to do their job.”

It starts with the returners first step and becomes successful when everyone involved executes properly. That first step, said Leake, is important in creating misdirection for the kicking team.

“Just selling it, making the defence go one way, just setting up your return, setting up your blocks,” Leake said. “It’s a lot of points that go into it, but the important one is that first step.”

Then he counts on his teammates to execute their blocks correctly to create the hole he needs to break through the initial wall of defenders.

“Then me trusting my guys that they’re blocking down the field and then just hitting it, the vertical.”

Elks linebacker Josiah Schakel says the blocking team has to know where the returner is headed so they can block the defenders away from the direction of the play.

“You’re reading the returner,” he says. “If he decides to go one way, you’re trying to flip your block the other way.”

And when everybody does their job, says Leake and Schakel, it can be electrifying for fans and teammates.

“There’s nothing better,” said Leake. “The whole crowd goes crazy; the sideline goes crazy. I feel like there’s no better play than a missed field goal return, or a regular punt or kick return.”

“Coach Kilam always talks about the best play in the CFL, the missed field goal return,” added Schakel. ”That’s a 10-point swing. That’s why the fans get excited. You can watch it, when someone begins to return a field goal, the fans start raising as they realize, ‘Hey, this is going for a touchdown.’ “

And, he adds, there’s personal satisfaction as well.

“Man, when you get a great block and you know you’re won that battle, you feel good inside and you’re readying to go for the next play.”

And when, or if, Leake or a teammate does return a punt, kick or missed field goal for a touchdown, it will be, said Schakel, “amazing.”

“I feel like the whole team will light up if we start returning kicks. That’s just going to change our game. We’re a three-phase team so if special teams can contribute to scoring that’s going to help the whole team.”

No decisions have been made on who will be returning kicks for the Elks, largely because Kilam hasn’t had the opportunity to really study the players. Something, he said, is tough to do in practice.

“Returners is a position you really have to get into the game to really get the evaluation,” Kilam said. “Until that point, we’re learning the rules, fielding the football, understanding where to go, but it’s definitely a position, when the lights come on you see who’s got it and who doesn’t.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2025.

John Korobanik, The Canadian Press