User:The C of E/rp

Rhodesia

Early life
Pretorius was born in Rhodesia and is the grandson of Joe Pretorius, a rugby player who played internationally for Rhodesia and waas part of their 1949 10-8 victory over the All Blacks. Pretorius and his family fled to Durban, South Africa in 1983 after a Zimbabwe Republic Police officer threatened him and his father with an AK-47. He was educated at Westville Boys High School.

Rugby
After finishing school, Pretorius moved to England and joined the academy of Bath Rugby. He made his one and only appearance for Bath as a scrum-half against Saracens in 1999. He then moved to play rugby in France. For Christmas he got a laptop and looked at American football kickers seeing how far they could kick and then went on holiday to the United States and filmed himself kicking field goals from 65 yards. After encouragement from fellow South African former NFL kicker Gary Anderson, Pretorius sent copies of the tape to several American universities and was invited to join Ohio State University as a walk-on. When told he would have to pay his way there, he sold his car to his father.

American football
When Pretorius kicked, he wore cleats that were two sizes too small to replicate the feeling of kicking barefoot as he had done when younger practicing rugby. He made his debut for the Buckeyes in 2005. In 2006, he was awarded a scholarship to Ohio State. At the time, he was the oldest member of the Ohio State team. In 2007, with a 96% extra point percentage, he was nominate for a Lou Groza Award. He also played in Ohio's 2008 BCS National Championship Game loss to LSU Tigers. In his 2008 season, he scored all but one of this point after touchdown attempts and was also a part of Ohio's team in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl loss to Texas Longhorns.