Brett Lauther (born November 4, 1990) is a Canadian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

for the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

(CFL). He was named a CFL West Division All-Star in 2018 and holds the Roughriders franchise record for highest career field goal percentage.

Early life

Lauther attended the Cobequid Educational Centre in

Truro, Nova Scotia Truro (Scottish Gaelic: ''Trùru'') is a town in central Nova Scotia, Canada. Truro is the shire town of Colchester County and is located on the south side of the Salmon River (Nova Scotia), Salmon River floodplain, close to the river's mouth ...

where he played for the Cougars as a

and

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

University career

Lauther played

CIS football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athlet ...

at Saint Mary's University for the Huskies from 2009 to 2012. He played in 18 games over four years as the team's

and punter where he was successful on 33 out of 47 field goal attempts and had 146 punts with a 38.4-yard average. He was a

Loney Bowl The Jewett Trophy is a Canadian sports trophy, in honour of Dr. B. L. Jewett, presented annually to the winner of the Atlantic University Sport Football Conference of U Sports. Unlike the other three conference championship games, the game in whi ...

champion with the Huskies in 2009 and 2010 and was named an AUS All-Star in 2011 and 2012.

Professional career

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Lauther was drafted by the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

of the CFL with the 53rd overall pick in the 2013 CFL Draft and was signed by the team on May 27, 2013. As a native

Nova Scotian A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

, he has the unusual distinction of playing in his first professional football game in

the Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of ...

, in

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. Th ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

, as part of the third installment of

Touchdown Atlantic Touchdown Atlantic ( French: ''Touché Atlantique'') is a series of neutral site Canadian Football League games played in the Maritime provinces of Canada. In 2003, the league had struck a committee to examine the feasibility of adding a tent ...

. For this game, he was named Special Teams Player of the Week for Week Thirteen of the 2013 season after going 4 for 4 on field goal attempts on September 21, 2013, against the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

. Lauther was re-signed by the Tiger-Cats on January 8, 2014, where he spent the entire season on the practice roster behind incumbent,

Justin Medlock Justin Charles Medlock (born October 23, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the UCLA Bruins, ea ...

. He declined a contract from the Tiger-Cats during the following off-season.

Saskatchewan Roughriders (first stint)

Lauther signed a practice roster agreement with the CFL's

on September 3, 2015. He was released on October 8, 2015.

Toronto Argonauts

On October 14, 2015, Lauther was added to the practice roster of the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

of the CFL. He was released by the team on October 19, 2015.

Saskatchewan Roughriders (second stint)

On August 29, 2017, Lauther was signed to the practice roster of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. However, he was released on September 12, 2017.

Edmonton Eskimos

On September 25, 2017, Lauther was signed by the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...

in response to Sean Whyte's injury. He spent the remainder of the 2017 season on the practice roster.

Saskatchewan Roughriders (third stint)

On March 19, 2018, Lauther signed with the Roughriders for a third time, but participated in training camp with the team for the first time. Lauther became the team's placekicker and enjoyed a successful

2018 CFL season The 2018 CFL season was the 65th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 61st Canadian Football League season. Edmonton hosted the 106th Grey Cup on November 25, 2018. The CFL announced that this season will move to a ...

that culminated in his first Divisional All-Star award. He led the league with 54 field goals from 60 attempts and also led the league in points with 198. He also had the longest successful field goal that year which was made from 56 yards out. In the second game of the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, Lauther kicked a career-long 57-yard field against the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

on June 20, 2019, which was the fifth-longest in Roughriders history. After the third game, he was moved to the injured list as he battled through hip and groin injuries and missed five games between July and August. He returned on August 24, 2019, and played in the last 10 regular season games of the season. Entering the last regular season game of 2019, Lauther had an 85.7 percent field goal success rate, the final game against the

which was a victory that clinched first place in the West Division. In the West Final, he successfully connected on all four field goal attempts, but the Roughriders lost to the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division (CFL), West division. They play thei ...

. After the CFL canceled the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Lauther chose to opt-out of his contract with the Roughriders on August 25, 2020. He re-signed with the team on March 12, 2021. In

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, he played in all 14 regular season games where he made 40 out of 47 field goal attempts. He notably recovered his own onside kick in a game against the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

on October 2, 2021. Following an injury to the team's punter,

Jon Ryan Jonathan Robert Ryan (born November 26, 1981) is a Canadian former professional football player who was a punter in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played university football for the Regina Rams, an ...

, Lauther was also pressed into punting duty for the first time in his professional career on October 23, 2021. On January 29, 2022, it was announced that Lauther had signed a two-year contract extension with the Roughriders. On July 16, 2022, in

, Lauther scored the first points in the first CFL regular season game played in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

with a 34-yard field goal. He finished the season having played in 18 regular season games, making 41 of 50 field goal attempts. In

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, he was successful on 36 of 44 field goal attempts.

References

External links

Saskatchewan Roughriders bioStats Crew profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauther, Brett Living people 1990 births Players of Canadian football from Nova Scotia Canadian football punters Canadian football placekickers Saint Mary's Huskies football players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Saskatchewan Roughriders players Toronto Argonauts players Sportspeople from Truro, Nova Scotia Edmonton Elks players