Spotlight_March/April_2022

I was excited for my last year at SMU, we had a really good team and looked to be a solid contend- er for an AUS or even National Championship that year. Unfor- tunately our quarterback broke his neck in our first game against Acadia that year. So that led to me doing a lot more kicking attempts that year, which looking back probably helped me at the time and earned me the team MVP for my last year at SMU. I was fortunate to get an invi- tation to the national combine which was a huge deal for me and especially coming from the AUS which doesn’t get the exposure the other conferences do. Once the combine was done, I really focused on training full time with a lot of guys that were going to be in the draft on my team. We were doing four or five days a week of 6 am workouts and then field work and then also class. But my hard work paid off and I was drafted by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with one of my Saint Mary’s Huskies Teammates, Neil King. It was an amazing experi- ence and Neil is one of my good buddies to this day. Spotlight: What was it like to be drafted to play for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League in the 2013 CFL Draft? What was it like to play your first profes - sional football game in front of a Maritime crowd as part of Touchdown Atlantic? I had the pleasure to see that game, and I am sure you remember it well as you went 4 for 4 for field goal attempts that day, what was that experience like?

Brett Lauther: The CFL draft was a lot different back then. It didn’t get the publicity that it gets now. I will be honest; I wasn’t expect- ing to get drafted but my agent said there were some whispers of me potentially getting the call during the draft. I knew I had a good year, my final year at Saint Mary’s, and had a good showing at the East West Bowl and felt that my interviews, and National Combine went very well. So, I was obviously hoping to be drafted but truly had no pre-set expectations and just went about my day. Then I remember getting the call from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats organization and talking to Kent Austin, Drew Allemang, Shawn Burke and Jeff Reinebold of the Hamilton program. And yeah, it was obviously a life changing call and I was extremely excited to get drafted and to have an opportunity to play professional football, it validates all my efforts along with those of everyone else that helped me get there along the way. So, it was a cool day for family, friends, teammates, and a lot of coaches and especially my dad. I remember just being at home with him, and we’re kind of keeping it very low key with no expectations. When it came up that Hamilton was on the ticker, and I got the phone call that I was drafted, it was pretty cool and awesome that I got to share that moment with my father.

“it was obviously a life changing call and I was extreme- ly excited to get drafted and to have an opportu- nity to play pro- fessional football, it validates all my efforts along with those of everyone else that helped me get there along the way.”

19

18

MARCH/APRIL 2022 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE

SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • MARCH/APRIL 2022

Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease