Tyler Mullan doesn\u2019t fall into the category of a secret weapon \u2014 you need only to crack open the Queen\u2019s Gaels all-time career records and his name is the first you land on.<\/p>\n
Career scoring: 1. Tyler Mullan 449. In his five seasons dating back to 2022, he\u2019s hit on 93 field goals, another school record, and 170 converts. <\/p>\n
In the first quarter of the Gaels\u2019 42-20 victory over the Ottawa Gee-Gees at Richardson Stadium, he took advantage of a friendly wind and bombed a three-pointer from 55 yards to add another school record, the longest field goal. The previous record of 52 yards had been set by Brian Shore in 1979 and matched by Dillon Walmsley 13 years ago. <\/p>\n
Queen\u2019s has four regular-season games left to play and the number of games in the OUA playoffs and anything beyond is a matter to be determined. Barring illness or injury, Mullan has plenty of opportunities to put his records further out of reach of kickers who might come along for the next century or so. You wouldn\u2019t even bet against him going deeper than the 55-yarder moonshot \u2014 the ball didn\u2019t crawl over the bar and might have been good from 58 or 60 yards.<\/p>\n
Queen\u2019s head coach Steve Snyder might have had a premonition about the long-distance kick. In a session with the media prior to the Gaels\u2019 55-17 victory at Carleton in their third game of the season, Mullan\u2019s name came up in conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s really stretched his distance. When he came here, he was very accurate, very consistent, but he didn\u2019t have the biggest leg, backing him up to 50. But now we\u2019re comfortable with him (at that range) even in game scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n
That scenario rolled out against the Gee-Gees as if it were scripted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn previous years, I wasn\u2019t put out for those longer field goals,\u201d Mullan said. \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve been working on in the weight room, getting my leg stronger and adding that distance. It\u2019s great to have that trust of the coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Mullan admittedly didn\u2019t have the leg for placements in the 50-yard range on arrival at Queen\u2019s in 2022, Snyder suggested the kicker had the make-up and work ethic necessary for an elite collegiate kicker, one who has to be in the running for All-Canadian honours in this his final season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came in with a really good sense of himself,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cSince being here, he\u2019s earned the belief of his teammates. His teammates believe that he\u2019s going to make every kick, no matter what, and that\u2019s helped him over the years. They call him \u2018Money Mullan\u2019 for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
To this point, Mullan has made all 14 of his field-goal attempts and all 18 of his conversion opportunities.<\/p>\n
Mullan\u2019s reliability factors into Snyder\u2019s decision-making in pressure situations and likewise, the coach has confidence in punter Matt Driver, who doubles as the placeholder on points-after and field goals. Snyder spared no superlative in his assessment of his pair of specialists: \u201cas good as it gets\u201d in Canadian collegiate football. <\/p>\n
For Mullan, 55 yards was as long as it got in the Ottawa game, but not remotely the most memorable and impactful moment. No, that would be his onside kick at the start of the second half last Saturday when the Gaels were trailing the Gee-Gees and the game\u2019s outcome seemed very much in doubt.<\/p>\n
\u201cMain message I got was they\u2019d never seen a 55-yarder get overshadowed by an onside kick,\u201d Mullan said.<\/p>\n
Mullan said his last successful onside kick came during his high school days at St. Joseph-Scollard Hall Catholic in North Bay and it was \u201csky\u201d shots rather than squibs along the lines of the kick against Ottawa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a pretty fast guy and I \u2018sky-ed\u2019 it to him,\u201d Mullan said. \u201cI remember him taking one in the air and taking it to the house (end zone).\u201d<\/p>\n
If Mullan does break his school long-distance record, it seems unlikely to come in Saturday\u2019s showdown against the undefeated Mustangs at Western and not simply because of the risk-reward would be tough to balance in a head-to-head battle for first place in the OUA. The overriding issue figures to be field conditions at Western Alumni Stadium.<\/p>\n
In the Mustangs\u2019 32-25 win over McMaster last weekend, Western\u2019s placekicker Mateo Pasquini missed both his field goal attempts and on one, from 40 yards, he was nearly supine when he hit the ball. When Pasquini planted to make contact, he lost all traction and wound up flat on his back, like he\u2019d hit an icy sidewalk. <\/p>\n
The Western kicker was unable to track the ball and probably just as well for his sense of self-worth \u2014 the wounded duck flew 20 yards wide and barely plummeted in the end zone. A McMaster returner ran it out comfortably, avoiding the concession of a rouge.<\/p>\n
Pasquini\u2019s stumble was a byproduct of conditions at Western\u2019s home field, an expanse of artificial grass that is well-worn and in need of repair or replacement. Even though Pasquini is first-year player in Western\u2019s lineup, he still has more experience on the treacherous surface than any visiting kicker \u2014 if the surface can undo the Mustangs\u2019 own, visitors should be on high alert and visitors\u2019 coaches no less.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s super slick and it\u2019s just about finding your footing,\u201d Mullan said. \u201c(The surface) is something we\u2019ve been thinking about all week and I\u2019ll be bringing every kind of cleat. It\u2019s about finding the right one.<\/p>\n
If Mullan needed any encouragement going into the game at Western, it might come from the visiting kicker last week in London \u2014 McMaster\u2019s Michael Horvat hit all three of his field-goal attempts, including a 52-yarder, which might suggest the wear and tear on the turf is a little less severe closer to midfield.<\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n