THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL — The McGill Redmen posted an 0-8 record last year without a kicker but now have landed the son of one of the NFL’s all-time best at the position.
Austin Anderson, the 19-year-old son of four-time Pro Bowl kicker Gary Anderson, has signed a letter of intent to play for McGill next season.
Gary Anderson, a South Africa native who lives in Canmore, Alta., played 24 years for Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Minnesota and Tennessee.
He retired after the 2004 season and moved with his family to Canmore, 100 kilometres west of Calgary, where he operates a fly-fishing business called Perfect Season.
Austin Anderson was recommended to McGill by Jay Harris, one of his coaches at Canmore Collegiate high school who was an all-Canadian lineman for the Redmen in the 1970s.
The younger Anderson maintained a 90 per cent average at Canmore Collegiate and plans to study management at McGill.
Last season, backup running back Jeff Boudreau handled kickoffs and converts for the Redmen while quarterback Matt Connell was the punter.
With no one capable of kicking field goals, the Redmen became the first Canadian university team to go an entire season without attempting one since Mount Allison in 1979.
To add insult to injury, McGill lost three games by five points or fewer without a kicker.
Gary Anderson set the NFL record for points in a season with no touchdowns scored in 1998 with Minnesota, when he had 35 field goals and 59 converts for 164 points. That year, he was also the first to go an entire season without missing a field goal or convert.
He passed George Blanda for the all-time NFL scoring lead in 2000 with 2,434 career points but was bypassed in 2006 by Morten Andersen.