QB McKay takes long, winding path to Lions
Published on February 13, 2007 under World Indoor Football League 2 (WIFL 2)
Columbus Lions News Release
COLUMBUS, GA, February 13 -- Strong-armed Andrew McKay has been a lot of places as the son of an Air Force colonel and a fine two-sport athlete. Somehow, his travels, academic difficulties and resulting maturity all seem about to converge into a breakout season quarterbacking the new World Indoor Football League Columbus Lions.
McKay was born in Fairbault, Minnesota but moved roughly every two years due to his father's career. He tallies sixteen different residences, and graduated high school in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he starred as a shooting guard in basketball through his junior year before concentrating on football. Among his hoops teammates was Wayne Simien, later a star on the University of Kansas' NCAA championship team.
"Family connections with Coach (Mark) Richt", as McKay put it, led to his coming to the University of Georgia as a walk-on rather than accept an Air Force Academy basketball scholarship. However, newly married to wife Tracey, also "an Air Force brat" whom he met in Turkey while both were visiting their dads, Andrew didn't pour himself into his studies. He practiced with the Bulldogs and hit the weight room. Ineligible academically, he weighed an offer from Valdosta State before deciding to attend Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia.
Known for instilling discipline and its boot-camp atmosphere, Hargrave brought out the best in McKay. "It was hot, no air conditioning, you had to take orders from people you don't like and become brothers with people you'd ordinarily never live with," he said. McKay worked out in the weight room, and played a tough schedule that included playing against second-string teams from the likes of Virginia Tech, Army, Navy, Kentucky and Georgia Military College. He called Hargrave "an experience you love to hate, a post-graduate situation that gives guys an extended look at getting to Division 1-A schools."
At a summer Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp, McKay met Liberty University head coach Frank Rocco, a former Penn State quarterback. Transferring from Georgia to Liberty didn't cost McKay a season. He played well as a junior, but lost his starting spot after Rocco left under new coach Ken Karcher, whom he called "a great offensive mind, but I wasn't one of his guys."
Though he had chances to play in arena football after graduating from Liberty, McKay opted for an internship under the strength coach at UGA. He was hired fulltime after the season and in 2005, helped coach the Bulldogs to their SEC championship before losing to West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl.
Interestingly, McKay auditioned for and was chosen to play the quarterback in the recently released movie "We Are Marshall". But, he said, "On the first day of filming, as I stepped under center, the director said 'we can't use you, quarterbacks weren't 6-foot-5, 230 pounds in 1971'. I couldn't play another position for them, so I'm not in the movie. It would have been nice to have on my resume."
McKay, who still is on the strength and conditioning staff at UGA, has had Arena Football league tryouts with the Arizona Rattlers, Georgia Force and Los Angeles Avengers. Coach Brian Winter in L.A. told him to "play hard for coach Gibson and tear it up in Columbus, and when we want you, we're gonna come get you", attesting to McKay's status as a legitimate AFL prospect.
Of the three-step drop necessitated by the indoor game, Andrew says "It's bang-bang-bang. You can't really gather yourself, then throw. You have to let it go almost before you're ready due to the smaller field."
Meanwhile, McKay still prepares strength programs for Georgia's quarterbacks, commuting from Athens in order to spend time with Tracey and 6-month-old son Moses. He's a bright young man who brings much to the table for the Lions, and it looks like his years on the move have led him to the right place to solidify his future in football.
NOTABLE FROM CAMP -- Due to persistent, heavy rain that made Memorial Stadium's field sloppy, Gibson chose to have an extended film-watching session on thye plays run by his 2006 AIFL team, the Chattahoochee Valley Vipers, on which several of the Lions played ..... The injury bug hit linebacker Calvin Arnold, who came up with a bruised hand ..... Coach Gibson debuts his Tuesday evening radio show on February 20 from 6-7 p.m., live from Joe D's Que on Summerville Rd. in Phenix City (Publix Shopping Center). The program, as will all Lions home and away games, will air on three Davis Broadcasting stations (95.7 FM "The River", ESPN Radio1580 AM and 98.7 FM in Auburn-Opelika) ..... the public is welcome at all Lions workouts, starting at 6:30 p.m. Closer to Opening Day, several workouts will be inside the Civic Center, but most of training camp will be next door at the stadium ..... The Augusta Spartans edged the Daytona Beach Thunder Sunday, 49-47, in the WIFL's inaugural game at Daytona. A blocked field goal with 30 seconds left preserved the tight win for Augusta. ..... Opening Night at home for the Lions is Saturday, March 10 against the Osceola (Kissimmee, FL) Ghostriders at 7:00 p.m., but the team will open at Daytona Beach on Monday, February 26. Visit www.columbuslions.net and www.wifl.us for more details.
World Indoor Football League 2 Stories from February 13, 2007
- QB McKay takes long, winding path to Lions - Columbus Lions
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