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Phil Steele’s 2013 Postseason All-American Team Snappers

Posted on December 23, 2013 by longsnap

One of the very few major football publications to cover long snapping is Phil Steele’s College Football Preview. In addition to covering snappers in his print magazine, he also takes the addition step of including long snappers to both his pre-season and Postseason All-American Team.

Scott Thompson of NC State secured the top spot on both lists this year. Second Team snapper is Trevor Gillette of Rice, with Reid Ferguson of LSU the Third Team snapper and Drew Howell of Oregon made the Fourth Team.

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Dorenbos Makes Unique Admission

Posted on December 20, 2013 by longsnap

Tim McManus recently wrote an interesting story about Eagles snapper Jon Dorenbos in his Birds 24/7 column. Dorenbos, who is also an accomplished magician as shown here, admitted that he used another teammate’s snapping footage to get a scholarship.

Dorenbos was attending Golden West Junior College when he put together a highlight tape of his snapping and playing linebacker. Because he did not have a lot of snapping footage, he also used footage from a teammate who snapped and sent it to UTEP. The film helped get Dorenbos a full scholarship, where he snapped for three years and is now about to conclude his 11th season in the NFL. Dorenbos said he told UTEP about the tape during his junior year.

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Week Fifteen in Review

Posted on December 17, 2013 by longsnap

Week Fifteen was an active one for long snappers. John Denney of the Dolphins got the attention no snapper wants when his field goal snap was premature and hit his holder, Brandon Fields, in the facemask and prevented the kick. Clark Harris of the Bengals had a snap go wide in windy conditions in Pittsburgh that prevented a punt attempt. The Jets had a punt blocked by the Panthers due to a “technical” mistake in their punt blocking scheme, allowing a rush up the middle on snapper Tanner Purdum.

Cullen Loeffler of the Vikings, who was profiled in a nice feature story on TwinCities.com this week, left Sunday’s game briefly. Loeffler suffered a hand injury and missed one punt snap that was handled by Jared Allen. Loeffler was later able to return to the game.

Two snappers, Zak DeOssie (Giants) and client Brett Goode (Packers), recorded tackles this week, with DeOssie recording two solo stops and Goode one solo tackle.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Fifteen is below.

Week Fifteen NFL Long Snappers Chart

Posted in NFL, Snapping in the Media, Tackles | Leave a comment

2013 Chris Rubio Award Finalists Announced

Posted on December 16, 2013 by longsnap

On Friday, three finalists were announced for the third annual 2013 Chris Rubio Award. The award will be presented at a cermenony in Las Vegas on January 17, 2014.

This year’s finalists are Tanner Carew (California, Class of 2014), Blake Ferguson (Georgia, Class of 2015) and Alan Lucy (Virginia, Class of 2014).

Prior winner’s are Scott Daly, who now snaps at Notre Dame, and last year’s winner Cole Mazza, who snaps for Alabama.

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Week Fourteen in Review

Posted on December 10, 2013 by longsnap

Week Fourteen was an eventful one at the special teams position. As noted in yesterday’s blog post, Matt Prater of the Broncos kicked an NFL record 64 yard field goal, aided by a great snap from Aaron Brewer.

There was also a key blocked punt by the Jets against the Raiders that was recovered for a touchdown. After the game, a number of stories about the block described how the Jets special teams coach Ben Kotwica noted in film study that snapper Jon Condo did not drop back fully to block after snaps. The Jets were able to exploit that fact when coming after the punt.

After the Texans lost to the Jaguars on Thursday Night Football, the Texans fired their head coach as well as long-time special team coach Joe Marciano. Marciano has been replaced by assistant Bob Ligashesky, who has prior experience as a special teams coach.

Five snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week, as Andrew Economos (Bucs), JJ Jansen (Panthers), Matt Overton (Colts) and Zak DeOssie (Giants) had solo tackles, while John Denney (Dolphins) added an assisted tackle.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Fourteen is below.

Week Fourteen NFL Long Snappers Chart

Posted in Coaching, NFL, Snapping in the Media, Tackles | Leave a comment

Prater Kicks Record Field Goal

Posted on December 9, 2013 by longsnap

Any successful field goal kick depends on the snap and hold in addition to the kick. An NFL record was broken yesterday when Matt Prater of the Broncos kicked a 64 yard field goal in Denver.

Aaron Brewer made the flawless snap on this history-making kick, although he acknowledged after the game he had no idea at the time the kick would break the record. Instead, Brewer admitted he was more concerned about running down the field to cover the kick to avoid an Auburn-Alabama situation from a couple of weeks ago, when a long field goal attempt was returned by Auburn for a game-winning touchdown.

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Week Thirteen in Review

Posted on December 3, 2013 by longsnap

Week Thirteen is complete and Kyle Nelson of the Redskins received the national attention that no snapper seeks. Nelson had a poor punt snap late in the Monday Night game against the Giants and was called for holding on the same play.

Multiple snappers recorded tackles in punt coverage this week. Matt Overton (Colts) and Garrison Sanborn (Bills) recorded two tackles, with Overton tallying a solo and assisted tackle and Sanborn had two assisted stops. Jon Condo (Raiders), Cullen Loeffler (Vikings) and Andrew Economos (Bucs) had solo tackles while Carson Tinker (Jaguars) and Josh Harris (Falcons) had assisted tackles. Sanborn leads all snappers with nine total tackles.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week Thirteen is below.

Week Thirteen NFL Long Snappers Chart

Posted in NFL, Snapping in the Media, Tackles | Leave a comment

Week Twelve in Review

Posted on November 26, 2013 by longsnap

Week Twelve of the NFL season is complete and marked the return of veteran snapper Patrick Mannelly to the Bears. Mannelly missed two games due to injury and was replaced by Jeremy Cain.

Although there have been very few major snapping incidents this season, some snappers have struggled at times, including Beau Brinkley of the Titans. After the Titans win this weekend, in which Brinkley had some poor snaps, he went to Twitter to take full responsibility and to do better. Attached to his post-game tweet was the note attached in full below which should serve as a great lesson to all snappers regarding to the ups and downs of a life in football, especially in a position that demands excellence each and every time.

On the tackle front, Brinkley recorded a solo tackle in punt coverage, as did Brett Goode (Packers) and Danny Aiken (Patriots). Jon Weeks (Texans) added an assisted tackle. The NFL Long Snapper Chart after Week Twelve is below.

Week Twelve NFL Long Snappers Chart

Note from Beau Brinkley

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The Blind Long Snapper

Posted on November 24, 2013 by longsnap

As noted here many times before, there are tremendous and inspiring stories of the people who fill the role as long snapper at all levels of football. One such story that has received national attention is that of Jake Olson. Jake is a high school snapper at Orange Lutheran High School in California.

What makes Jake’s story so unique is that he is blind in both eyes due to cancer. He became blind in one eye when he was 10 months old. In 2009, when facing surgery that would blind him in his other eye, Pete Carroll, then the head coach at Olson’s favorite team, USC, brought him to a Trojan practice and game.

Jake could not get football out of his system and figured that long snapping would be a way to get on the field despite his loss of vision. Four years later, after much hard work and dedication, Jake is snapping for his high school team on placements and was recently featured on ESPN’s College Game Day.

Posted in High School, Snapping in the Media | Leave a comment

Excellent Resource for College Depth Charts

Posted on November 21, 2013 by longsnap

For many years, I have spent countless hours pouring over college football team websites in order to compile Longsnap.com’s annual and exclusive listing of Division One college snappers. At last, there is a tremendous resource for obtaining the depth charts for all 125 college football teams in Division One thanks to Ourlads’.

Ourlads recently debuted its compilation of depth charts and rosters. Importantly, the depth charts include long snappers. The depth charts are also color-coded to reflect NFL Draft prospects. To date, just one senior snapper, Trevor Gillette of Rice, is listed as a prospect.

Posted in College, NFL Draft, Snapping in the Media | Leave a comment