By: Monty Mosher

The St. Francis Xavier X-Men football team got an unexpected gift this summer – a six-foot-four, 312-pound left tackle with hands good enough to play the bagpipes.

Offensive lineman Gregor MacKellar is the rare football player out of Nova Scotia to land a U.S college scholarship. The Timberlea native played at St. Andrew's College in Ontario before joining the NCAA Division I Rice Owls in Houston, Tex., last year.

MacKellar, continuing a long line of Canadian recruits with the Owls, spent his year as a red-shirt at Rice, a member of Conference USA.

But three consecutive losing seasons, including 1-11 last year, cost head coach David Bailiff his job. Rice hired Stanford assistant Mike Bloomgren as his replacement.

MacKellar wasn't entirely comfortable with the change in direction. After a meeting with team staff, he decided to look elsewhere.

'Great learning experience'

"Overall, it was a pretty good year," the 20-year-old MacKellar said in an interview this week as he prepared for St. F.X.'s regular-season opener on Friday at Saint Mary's. "Obviously, a factor in my decision was the fact all or our previous coaches, like the ones who recruited me, all got let go with the exception of one. But overall it was definitely a great learning experience."

It can be a familiar refrain for Canadians taking their shot in the U.S. Rice is a school with a reputation for academic excellence, but football at any Division I school is going to be a business.

"I definitely felt like the connection wasn't quite as strong as it once was the old staff, for sure," he said. "Really, at the end of the day, it's a business down there. I wasn't sure I could see myself down there for another four years."

Mostly, it came down to playing time. He didn't like where he fit on the depth chart under the new administration and wondered if he'd see the field this year, or next. He didn't want to spend his varsity career watching other people take all the snaps.

Transferred in the summer

He went through winter training and spring football at Rice. He had a month off in Canada and then went back to Houston for summer training, but he was there for a month. After a meeting with his coaches to see where he stood, he decided near the end of June to transfer.

"We are extremely excited to have Gregor MacKellar join us at St. F.X.," said X-Men head coach Gary Waterman. "Since his arrival he has been an exemplary teammate who has continued to get better with every rep. He plays a physical style of football and has tremendous focus."

MacKellar had a built-in soft spot for St. F.X. Just before leaving for St. Andrews College for his Grade 11 year, he helped his older sister, Ainsley, move into St. F.X. for her freshman year.

"I had developed a good relationship with a lot of the St. F.X. coaches through Football Nova Scotia. One of the coaches I developed a really good relationship was Dave Van den Heuvel, who is the current offensive line coach here now.

"Any time I was in town or up visiting my sister, I would always pop in and say hi. This was even before I was going to Rice. I always kept in contact with him and he always joked around that if I was ever coming back they'd have a spot for me."

Considered joining Calgary

Still, he was leaning toward joining University of Calgary before deciding he wanted to stay in Nova Scotia, where he already had established relationships.

Score one for MacKellar's sister, who remains at St. F.X., in the recruiting process. She went through the business program and Gregor will also enter business.

"She gave me every possible pitch. She had nothing but good things to say about St. F.X. and the academics and the community. I heard nothing but good things from her. I really liked the football and the coaches. The players are a really good group of guys."

As for football, there has been an adjustment. The level of football is not as high and he knew that coming back.

At Rice, there was organized training every day in the summer. Film study, too.

"All of that is on me now. It was mandatory before."

The fun is in playing. He can count on playing with the X-Men, something that wouldn't have been true at Rice.

'Anything can happen'

"I'm really passionate about what they have going on here at St. F.X. and I want to see the team do super well in the upcoming years I'm here. I feel like I can bring some unique things to the table that I learned down in the U.S. That kind of work ethic. It wold be great to win the AUS and that's our ultimate goal and it would be great to play in a Vanier Cup eventually. Those are the things I look forward to."

He's been asked frequently why he didn't pick a bigger school in a bigger a conference. His answer was simple.

"Anything can happen."