Stamps special-teams coordinator Mark Kilam was recently a guest on NewsTalk 770. Here are excerpts of the interview with Mark Stephen and Jock Wilson:

Q: Where is it going in terms of finding a full-time (kick) returner?

MK: It’s an ongoing process. There’s a couple of guys that we’re bringing down to Florida (for the Stamps’ free-agent camp) next week that we like. We’re trying to cover our ground — we’ve got a couple of wide-receiver body types, we’ve got a couple of running-back body types. It is a difficult position to fill but we think kind of highly about some of the guys we’re going to see down in Florida.

Q: Is it different for the American kids who have never played the Canadian game, especially with punt returns it’s so different?

MK: Coming out of U.S. college football or the NFL, there’s a lot of good kick returners, not punt returners. There isn’t a lot of punts being returned in college football and in the NFL because of the fair catch. It’s also one of those positions where you can’t really evaluate that player until he gets in the game and the lights are on and it’s pro football. There’s a lot of good college returners who can outrun everybody, but that’s college football. The CFL is special football and there’s better players and it’s harder to outrun guys. I think a lot of guys have a wake-up call when they come up to the CFL.

Q: That’s one thing I’ve noticed — you get these young guys and they’re all full of fire but they try to run coast to coast and try to turn the corner and outrun the coverage. Well guess what? They have some pretty fast guys (on coverage units).

MK: Even in the CFL, who’s the best at going coast to coast and outrunning everybody? Probably Brandon Banks, but that’s what he does. That’s his game. And maybe Stef Logan but other than that, you go through every team and sometimes their guy has been good and sometimes their guy’s been bad. Chris Rainey was cut from Montreal and obviously had the big game against us (as a member of the BC Lions). Then maybe if a guy gets nicked, that takes away from his game. They take some big shots those returners. It’s a difficult position to find a solid starter and keep that guy throughout the year.

Q: We mentioned Skye Dawson a moment ago. He finished the (2015) season as the returner. He did not have his best game in the West final but that’s the way it goes. My take is — and we’ll get your take — is that he’s certainly a strong candidate but I wouldn’t say he’s locked down the position. What are your thoughts on what he gave the team down the stretch last year?

MK: Take the West final out of it. If you look at his last three games, he made big plays. That last Sask game at home, he was wide open on both punt and kickoff returns. In that wind game at Hamilton, he had that big missed-field goal return up to midfield. He was playing dinged up, he took a shot. Everyone was down on him because he fumbled, and that was a big play that hurt us, but he is a guy who’s explosive and did some (good) things. We have Tory Harrison coming back and we’re hoping maybe he can transition to a bit of that role and take kickoff returns. Then we’re looking at some of these names who are coming down (to free-agent camp), guys like Tommy Lee Lewis from Northern Illinois, Roy Finch out of Oklahoma who did spent some time with Ottawa last year, Reg Whatley (from Middle Tennessee State). These are guys we think we’ve identified as hopefuls.

Q: In a best-case scenario, how many guys would you to see at the main training camp competing for that job?

MK: As many good ones as possible. Anybody that we think can bring a spark? Let’s bring them and let’s give them an opportunity.

Q: Tim St. Pierre is going to be the incumbent at long snapper. He had the job two years ago and was injured last year. Where do you see that position going? How much competition are you going to bring in for Tim?

MK: Like you said, we do have Timmy coming back. There’s a couple of guys in the draft, there’s a couple of guys in the draft we’ve identified, there’s a couple of free agents we’ve identified. We want to have some competition at that position in camp. I think it’s important, just like every other position. You want to stack a couple of guys up and see who can sort themselves out.

Q: What about the coverage teams? What’s your plan there?

MK: We had a good corps of guys last year who emerged. Will Langlais was a guy who we drafted and emerged as one of our better special-teams players. Charlie Power had a breakout season last year. We’re looking for big things from him this year. There’s (Adam) Thibault and we have some veteran guys like Corbin Sharun and James Green who we signed that are in that mix. I think the forgotten man that we all love and hope that he can make it through pre-season is Max Caron. We drafted Max really high and we really liked him coming out of Concordia. Unfortunately for Max, he had those two injuries but we’re hoping that he’s the forgotten piece who shows up.

Q: Rob Maver and Rene Paredes, two of the best kicker in the game and it’s good to see them back, but are you planning to bring in some competition at those positions as well?

MK: I don’t know. We’ll have to see how the draft goes, I guess. We really like our guys. We think they do a great job and they work really well together. If (bringing in another kicker) is the way goes, that’s the way it goes and that’s the way it was with Tyler (Crapigna) coming in (last season) but if it’s not, those guys know we believe in them.