Thread: Punter McGee anxious to get shot with Bears

Punter McGee anxious to get shot with Bears

By Brad Biggs Tribune reporter 2:07 p.m. CDT, May 12, 2011



Not much has changed for Chicago Bears punter Richmond McGee during the NFL lockout.

The punter on the 2005 Texas national championship team heads to the school’s Austin campus two or three days a week and punts. Sometimes he works out with Hunter Lawrence, a kicker trying to make it into a career, and they occasionally can find a long snapper in the school’s program to work with them.
Sometimes, McGee punts on his own and then shags the balls by himself.

All the while, the 28-year-old is hoping for his chance one day in the league. He signed a reserve/futures contract with the Bears in February. Those deals don’t become official until the first day of the new league year, meaning McGee is in every bit as much limbo as anyone else.

He is the only punter on the team’s roster for 2011 and that will change because the Bears aren’t going to hand their camp leg from the last two summers the job without competition. There is a chance a veteran is added to the mix and no one has ruled out a return by 15-year veteran Brad Maynard, although that seems unlikely.

So McGee practices. And he waits.

“It’s been same ol’, same ol’ for me,” he said. “I am going on my fourth year of not having any sure deal going. I definitely would rather be up there working out so I could hopefully be gaining their confidence and showing them what I can do, but as far as me down here, it’s the same routine I’ve been in the past couple years.”

The lockout has created a reunion of sorts as McGee said it has led to many of his former teammates returning to work out on campus. No, he hasn’t seen Cedric.

“Griffin?” McGee asked.

No, Benson.

“I haven’t seen Cedric but I know he is back here in Austin because I hear he is out on the lakes again,” McGee said. “Maybe I’ll run into him out on the lake. I did see (Minnesota Vikings cornerback) Cedric Griffin yesterday.”

McGee has a job as a financial planner for a major firm and calls that his “forever career.” Playing football opens avenues for him in that industry. But he’s had a drive to get in the league since 2008 when his wife Rachel pushed him into it. McGee had back surgery following his senior year in 2006 and needed time off to recover. That is no longer an issue for him.

“She said, 'Listen, you need to go start kicking again and try to make this happen so when you’re older you won’t always be complaining about would, coulda, shoulda stuff,’ ” he said.

So, he started training and hooked up with the Philadelphia Eagles in March 2008. After that, he’s pretty much been on the radar of Bears special teams coordinator Dave Toub.

“I feel like this is definitely the best shot I have at playing,” he said. “I am really hoping it works out somewhere this year, hopefully with the Bears because this is probably the last year I can afford to try because I have a kid and I just need to get settled.”

Has the training, week after week, year after year ever gotten monotonous?

“It’s kind of like my therapy,” McGee said. “It’s a good balance with my day job where I am inside most of the day wearing a suit and tie and then this getting to go outside, getting the sweat going. I feel like I almost need it, just for my own sanity.

“I know football is a luxury I might have for a couple more months or it might last a long time. I hope it works.”

bmbiggs@tribune.com