Lauther played CIS football at Saint Mary's University for the Huskies from 2009 to 2012.[2] He played in 18 games over four years as the team's placekicker and punter where he was successful on 33 out of 47 field goal attempts and had 146 punts with a 38.4-yard average.[3] He was a Loney Bowl champion with the Huskies in 2009 and 2010 and was named an AUS All-Star in 2011 and 2012.[4]
Professional career
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Lauther was drafted by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL with the 53rd overall pick in the 2013 CFL Draft and was signed by the team on May 27, 2013.[5] As a native Nova Scotian, he has the unusual distinction of playing in his first professional football game in the Maritimes, in Moncton, New Brunswick, as part of the third installment of Touchdown Atlantic. 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.[6] 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.[7] 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 Saskatchewan Roughriders on September 3, 2015.[8] He was released on October 8, 2015.[9]
Toronto Argonauts
On October 14, 2015, Lauther was added to the practice roster of the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.[10] He was released by the team on October 19, 2015.[10]
Saskatchewan Roughriders (second stint)
On August 29, 2017, Lauther was signed to the practice roster of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.[11] However, he was released on September 12, 2017.[12]
Edmonton Eskimos
On September 25, 2017, Lauther was signed by the Edmonton Eskimos in response to Sean Whyte's injury.[13] 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.[14]Lauther became the team's placekicker and enjoyed a successful 2018 CFL season that culminated in his first Divisional All-Star award.[15] 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.[16]
In the second game of the 2019 season, Lauther kicked a career-long 57-yard field against the Ottawa Redblacks on June 20, 2019, which was the fifth-longest in Roughriders history.[17] 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.[18] 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 Edmonton Eskimos which was a victory that clinched first place in the West Division.[18][19] In the West Final, he successfully connected on all four field goal attempts, but the Roughriders lost to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.[20]
After the CFL canceled the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lauther chose to opt-out of his contract with the Roughriders on August 25, 2020.[21] He re-signed with the team on March 12, 2021.[22] In 2021, he played in all 14 regular season games where he made 40 out of 47 field goal attempts.[3] He notably recovered his own onside kick in a game against the Calgary Stampeders on October 2, 2021.[23] Following an injury to the team's punter, Jon Ryan, Lauther was also pressed into punting duty for the first time in his professional career on October 23, 2021.[24]
On January 29, 2022, it was announced that Lauther had signed a two-year contract extension with the Roughriders.[25] On July 16, 2022, in Touchdown Atlantic, Lauther scored the first points in the first CFL regular season game played in Nova Scotia with a 34-yard field goal.[26] He finished the season having played in 18 regular season games, making 41 of 50 field goal attempts.[27] In 2023, he was successful on 36 of 44 field goal attempts.[28]
References
^"Brett Lauther"(PDF). colchestercountysporthalloffame.com. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 August 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2014.