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Legendary NFL name lands at McGill

Legendary NFL name lands at McGill

Department of Athletics, McGill University

Kicker Austin Anderson has signed a letter of intent to play for the McGill University Redmen.

The 19-year-old from Canmore, Alta., is a son of legendary National Football League kicker Gary Anderson, who played 24 years for Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Minnesota and Tennessee.

The timing couldn't be better for the Redmen, who last fall, became the first CIS team to not attempt a field goal during the season since Mount Allison in 1979.

The younger Anderson, who averaged 90 per cent academically for Canmore Collegiate high school last year, is planning on studying management at McGill. Courted by a number of teams, his decision to attend McGill was encouraged by Jay Harris, one of his coaches at Canmore Collegiate, who was an all-Canadian lineman for the Redmen in the 1970s.

Anderson's father holds the NFL record for points in a single season with no touchdowns scored, kicking 59 conversions and 35 field goals in 1998 for a total of 164 points.

He is tied with Morten Andersen, and Jason Elam for most seasons scoring at least 100 points (14).

Anderson ranks second for most career points in the NFL with 2,434. He held the record for several years after passing George Blanda's old record in October 2000, but was himself passed by Morten Andersen in 2006.

In 1998, Anderson became the first placekicker to finish the regular season with a 100% success rate on both field goals and extra points. He converted all 35 of his attempted field goals and all 59 extra points in regular season play for the Minnesota Vikings.

In 2004, he moved to Canmore, Alta., some 100 kilometres west of Calgary, along with his wife and two teenage boys. The senior Anderson operates a fly-fishing company known as Perfect Season.