Dear Garrett..

Your Brother, Colin McGuire

Dear Garrett,

You have a brother that you care about very much.  His name is Colin.  He is a famous football player, an incredible kicker.  Below is a story about him written by a newspaper reporter.  There have been many articles written, and will continue to be written about Colin and his amazing kicking ability. 

I’m glad you get to go to his games.  It’s extra special that you attend with Amy, your birth mother and Colin’s too.  How Colin arrived on Earth and how we found a family for him is an exciting story.  Colin is the kicker he is because of that family and because of Amy’s willingness to entrust the rearing of her birth son to that family.  Later, I will tell the story of how all that happened.  Below is a recent article about your brother Colin…Dad

By Danny Davis, Austin American Statesman Newspaper, August 22, 2012

At some point this season, Colin McGuire may hear his name called in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

And Westwood’s senior kicker will run onto the field, meet his holder and face  a kick that he may have made plenty of times before. There might be a  deficit on the scoreboard, or there may be a tie. McGuire may be asked to  just extend a Westwood lead.

And what will be going through McGuire’s head in those final moments?

“For some reason, it doesn’t click that it’s a high-pressure kick until  after it’s done,” McGuire said. “I usually forget that there are  people there watching me. Something weird in my brain, I have no idea.”

Westwood, ranked third in the American-Statesman’s preseason power poll, will  have McGuire as its kicker for the third straight season. As a sophomore, he  converted three field goal attempts. Last year, he earned third-team honors  on the All-Central Texas Team after kicking eight field goals and 48 extra  points.

McGuire’s longest kick was from 47 yards against McNeil last year. He  estimates that he could reach 60 yards without any wind.

“With Colin, we think that if we can get the ball to the 30-yard line,  we’ve got a great opportunity to get three points,” Westwood coach  Anthony Wood said. “He does give you a dimension offensively that we  believe is a weapon.”

McGuire started playing football in the seventh grade, but his career began in  the secondary. In fact, he became a kicker only because he was the only one  on his team at Grisham Middle School who could make an extra point.

Years later, he is the latest in a seemingly long line of successful kickers  that have come through Westwood.

Former Oklahoma State kicker Jason Ricks and current Stanford kicker Jordan  Williamson kicked at Westwood. Justin Putnam earned All-Central Texas honors  as a punter and kicker in 2006.

“Coming in, I had big shoes to fill,” McGuire said. “It’s a big  honor to be the next kicker.”

Wood, who is entering his eighth season as Westwood’s head coach, credited the  success in the Warriors’ kicking game to the relationship between the  incumbent and his successor. McGuire still kicks with Williamson during the  summer, and he will be expected to pass the torch to freshman Josh Burton,  Williamson’s younger brother.

“We believe that the outgoing kicker needs to train the kicker-to-be,”  Wood said.

Like Ricks and Williamson, McGuire also will kick in college: He committed to  Fresno State this summer.

But the Bulldogs didn’t come to Austin looking for McGuire.

In the offseason, Wood sat down with McGuire and his mother, and together they  mapped out a list of colleges that would need a kicker in 2013. Emails were  sent out, and McGuire attended camps at Fresno State, Arizona State, Baylor  and Texas.

McGuire won kicking competitions at three of those camps, and his performance  at the Fresno State camps garnered a scholarship offer.

“For kickers, you’ve got to go to the college camps,” McGuire said. “If  you really step it up in the competitions and show that you can take  pressure, that shows those coaches a lot.”

McGuire and his Westwood teammates are coming off a season in which Westwood  won a school-record 10 games. A 52-20 victory over Bowie in the Class 5A,  Division I playoff’s bi-district round gave the program its second  postseason victory.

This fall, the Warriors return six starters on offense and another six  starters on defense.

“I definitely think our program is on the rise, and there are a lot  higher expectations for Westwood,” McGuire said. “People are a  little more scared of what we can do.”