Hamish MacAndrew

Hamish MacAndrew

Hamish MacAndrew in 2035
No. 20 – Austin Copperheads
Position:	Strong Safety
Personal information
Born:	(2014-08-23)August 23, 2014 (aged 46) Isle of Skye, Scotland
Height:	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight:	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
College:	University of Glasgow
Career history
Roster status:	Active

Hamish MacAndrew (born August 23, 2014) is an American football free safety. He played college football for University of Glasgow and semi-professional football in the British American Football League Division 1 (BAFL Div 1) for the Glasgow Tigers before relocating to the United States of America to pursue a professional career in the ISFL.

Early years

MacAndrew was born on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, on August 23 2014 to parents Glen MacAndrew and Eilidh MacAndrew. As a youngster, Hamish was introduced to football through his father who is an avid fan. After visiting the US on a family holiday and attending an ISFL game, MacAndrew knew he wanted to get involved in the sport. Although the scene in Scotland was small, Hamish played for local teams through most of his youth, progressing through flag football, pop warner and finally youth leagues before deciding to head to the University of Glasgow to study.

College career

During his years at the University of Glasgow, MacAndrew played free safety, securing a starting position in the team in his first season. In order to get as much exposure to the sport as possible, MacAndrew also played for the Glasgow Tigers in the British American Football League. During his time with the Tigers, MacAndrew helped the team win two back-to-back BAFL Div 1 championships. In his final season, he was awarded both Defensive Player of the Year and BritBowl MVP for his outstanding performance in the championship game.

During his college career, talent scouts from the ISFL and DSFL were visiting European teams as part of the leagues desire to expand into foreign markets with local players. After being offered developmental scholarships MacAndrew travelled to the United States a number of times to attend positional training camps. Working with league personnel from the ISFL and DSFL indicated he may have what it took to go pro and declare for the draft in 2035 (S20).

After graduating from the University of Glasgow, MacAndrew made the move to the US full time in order to be available for the draft should his number be called.

College career statistics

MacAndrew left college with a career total of 21 interceptions (team record), 229 tackles and 54 passes defended.

Career statistics			Tackles			Sacks	Interceptions		Other
Season	Team	Games	Reg	TFL	Total	Sack	Int	IntTD	DefTD	FFum	FRec	PD	Safety
2032	Glasgow Tigers	10	73	2	75	1	7	2	2	3	0	14	0
2033	Glasgow Tigers	10	68	4	72	3	5	1	1	6	1	17	0
2034	Glasgow Tigers	10	81	1	82	2	9	3	3	5	2	23	0

Professional Career

MacAndrew was drafted by DSFL expansion team Dallas Birddogs with the 90th pick of the 2036 (S21) DSFL draft. MacAndrew went on to start all 14 games of the 2036 (S21) season, racking up a total of 69 tackles and 1 interception. Prior to the season starting, MacAndrew was ranked by some as around 10th best safety in the DSFL that season, a prediction which, more or less, seemed to maintain its accuracy as the season went on. MacAndrew struggled at the beginning of the season racking up a low amount of tackles but with, what his coaches attribute to 'hard work and extra hours studying the film' he picked up as the season went on. Week 12 vs the Buccaneers was his strongest showing of the season, putting up 9 tackles and his sole interception of the season, a performance earning him the gameball that day. As the season progressed MacAndrews ability to move around the field ended with him gaining a reputation as a run-stuffing safety, securing the most tackles at the Strong Safety position in the league and 5th overall out of all safeties.

Analyists are split, some put MacAndrew as being drafted in the 60s in the upcoming ISFL draft while others suggesting he may be picked closer to 20th. The S21 safety class is considered by many to be particularly competitive with a number of strong prospects for ISFL teams to consider. When asked about his draft stock MacAndrew replied "It is what it is, I recognise that I need to work on my skills and my football knowledge to stand out in this hyper competitive league. That's not something that daunts me, in fact, I look forward to the challenge."

MacAndrew was drafted to the Chicago Butchers with the 78th pick of the 2037 (S22) ISFL draft.

ISFL

Drafted by the Chicago Butchers for the 2037 (S22) season, MacAndrew was immediately called up to the ISFL starting roster as the #1 Safety, recording 5 tackles is his regular season debut in a 51-10 loss to the Philidelipha Liberty.

His strongest performance of the year was a key contributor to the Butchers sole win that season, a close matched defensive slugfest 9-5 win over the Honolulu Hahalua. In that game, MacAndrew racked up 7 tackles, 3 passes defended and 3 interceptions (a team single-game record), one of which he was stopped 1 yard out of the endzone in what would have been a game clinching pick six. This particular performance earned MacAndrew nominations for Defensive Performance of the Year. Other notable performances for MacAndrew in the 2037 (S22) season were his 9 tackle match in the Butchers 36-3 defeat by the Baltimore Hawks and his first career sack in the 34-3 defeat by the Colorado Yeti.

When asked about the Butchers 2037 (S22) season MacAndrew had the following to say: "It was a tough season for us all. No one likes to lose but we're building a great team here and those things take time. Being able to come in as a 1st year rookie and secure a starting spot immediately is quite unusual in todays league so I'm grateful for the experience I gained this season. I'm looking forward to the 2038 (S23) season. We've got some great talent coming in to bolster our offense and we've secured some fantastic players to slot into our already sneaky good defence. Look out for us this season."

During the 2038 (S23) season, MacAndrew improved upon his numbers from 2037 (S22) with great effect. The extra three games due to the league decision to extend the seasons gave extra opporunity to make his mark in the Butchers greatly improving defence. For his performance in week 2 as the Butchers took their first win of the season against Liberty, MacAndrew was nominated for Defensive Performance of the Year. In that game he put together 6 tackles, 2 passes defended and 2 interceptions. MacAndrew proved to be a more hard-hitting safety than in his debut year with the team chosing to blitz him from the safety position more frequently allowing him to rack up 8 sacks on the season as well as a forced fumble which he then recovered.

MacAndrew picked up his third (and final of the season) interception in week 5 vs the Baltimore Hawks. At this point, MacAndrew was leading the league in interceptions however he wasn't able to snag any more through the remaining 11 games of the year. When asked about this in an interview after the ISFL awards show he stated "To be honest, I let myself down. I got cocky. I was pulling in almost 1 pick per game and I let it get to my head. I started to think maybe I deserved those picks. I've spent a lot of time improving my football intelligence and I've invested in the best catching equipment to help me train more during this off season. Next season, it'll be way more than three interceptions. Quote me on that".

At the close of the 2039 (S24) season MacAndrew was asked about his quote from the previous year regarding interceptions, his response was "Well, I did say it would be way more and, for a while, it looked like that would not be the case at all. The first couple of games, I just wasn't playing like I should. Only eight tackles in two games? That's rookie numbers. Luckily my season picked up as it went along, as did the teams fortunes. At the end of the day I put up a similar stat line as last year. Nothing special. I gotta be better. Next season, quarterbacks will fear the name 'Hamish MacAndrew'.

Season 25 for MacAndrew proved he was a solid part of the Chicago Butchers defence as they continued to build around the core from the draft two season earlier. His eight sacks was third highest in the leage for a Safety position and his three interceptions was certainly a decent number.

His experience showed in other ways, now in his third season, MacAndrew was seen by others in the team as one of the leaders of the defence, a core member of The Slaughterhouse Five as dubbed by Chicago fans. His outreach programs in the community and supporting local high school football teams are part of the reason Chicago chose to protect MacAndrew during the S25 expansion draft, ensuring he would remain with the Butchers for the foreseeable future. For his leadership and performance as part of the team, MacAndrew was selected for the Pro Bowl for the first time.

DSFL Career Statistics

Career statistics			Tackles				Coverage		Safeties	Touchdowns	Blocks
Season	Team	Games	Tck	TFL	FF/FR	Sck	Int	PD	Sfty	TD	Blk P/XP/FG
2036 (S21)	DAL	14	69	0	0/0	0	1	1	0	0	0/0/0

ISFL Career Statistics

Career statistics			Tackles				Coverage		Safeties	Touchdowns	Blocks
Season	Team	Games	Tck	TFL	FF/FR	Sck	Int	PD	Sfty	TD	Blk P/XP/FG
2037 (S22)	Butchers	13	63	0	0/0	1	3	3	0	0	0/0/0
2038 (S23)	Butchers	16	73	0	1/1	8	3	5	0	0	0/0/0
2039 (S24)	Butchers	16	73	0	2/0	8	3	5	0	0	1/0/0
2040 (S25)	Butchers	16	82	0	2/0	6	2	3	0	0	0/0/0
2041 (S26)	Butchers	16	78	0	2/2	10	2	2	0	0	0/0/0
2042 (S27)	Butchers	16	64	0	0/0	4	2	8	0	0	0/0/0
2043 (S28)	Copperheads	16	59	0	2/0	1	4	13	0	1	0/1/0
2044 (S29)	Copperheads	16	29	0	2/1	1	0	3	0	1	0/0/0
2045 (S30)	Butchers	16	42	0	1/1	3	1	3	0	0	0/0/0
2046 (S31)	Butchers	16	32	0	2/1	2	5	8	0	0	0/0/0

In his ten years in the ISFL, MacAndrew accumulated 595 tackles, 25 interceptions, 44 sacks and two defensive touchdowns.

Achievements and Records

Awards

Team

• BAFL Division 1 Champion (2): 2033, 2034

Individual

• BAFL Defensive Player of the Year 2034
• BAFL BritBowl MVP 2034
• Pro Bowl 2039 (S24)