Week One in Review

Posted on September 11, 2012 by longsnap

Week One of the 2012 NFL Regular Season is complete and snappers played an important role in a number of games.  Last night, Pro Bowl snapper Jon Condo of the Raiders suffered an apparent concussion during punt coverage and left the game.  Most NFL teams are not prepared to lose their snapper and the Raiders best option was linebacker Travis Goethel, who last snapped in high school.  Goethel had problems with at least three punt snaps and brought back memories of James Harrison of the Steelers when he replaced an injured Greg Warren in the 2008 season and snapped the ball over the punter’s head.

The day before, Nick Sundberg of the Redskins broke a bone in his arm trying to block after a punt snap.  Although Sundberg was injured late in the first half, he was tough enough to finish the game, leading Head Coach Mike Shanahan to call him a “warrior”.

Four other snappers made NFL regular season debuts without incident for the Falcons (Josh Harris), Broncos (Aaron Brewer), Colts (Matt Overton) and Titans (Beau Brinkley).  One rookie snapper, Bryce Davis, was on the practice squad with the Bengals but has since been released.

Veteran Mike Leach snapped for the Cardinals Sunday and that marked his 153rd consecutive game.  He trails Brian Jennings of the 49ers, who snapped in his 193rd straight game Sunday.  Ethan Albright holds the NFL record for consecutive games by a snapper at 224 games, earned in 16 seasons with four teams.

Clark Harris of the Bengals had two tackles in punt coverage, while Leach, Zak DeOssie (Giants), Tanner Purdum (Jets), Josh Harris (Falcons) and Clint Gresham (Seahawks) each had solo stops.

The NFL Long Snappers Chart after Week One is below.

Week One NFL Long Snappers Chart

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2012 Division One Long Snappers

Posted on September 5, 2012 by longsnap

Longsnap.com’s exclusive compilation of Division One long snappers by conference is attached below.  This year, the snappers were compiled from team depth charts heading into the first game of the season.  In those situations where a team split punt and kick snap duties, only the punt snapper is listed.  As usual, the summary includes a snapper’s uniform number, first and last name, height, weight and class.

2012 Division One Long Snappers

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Final Cuts Involve Veteran Snappers Snow and Zelenka

Posted on August 31, 2012 by longsnap

Today’s final cuts are in and two veteran snappers, client Justin Snow (Colts) and Joe Zelenka (Falcons), did not survive.  Matt Overton will snap for the Colts, while rookie Josh Harris won the Atlanta job.

Other snappers that were released today include Bryce Davis (Bengals) and Kyle Nelson (49ers).  In addition to Overton, who has prior NFL experience in training camp with the Seahawks, and Harris, other new snappers are rookies Aaron Brewer (Broncos) and Beau Brinkley (Titans).

Beginning next week and every Tuesday of the NFL Regular Season, the Longsnap.com blog will feature its regular Week in Review posts and NFL Long Snappers Chart.

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Broncos Explain Snapping Decision

Posted on August 29, 2012 by longsnap

One of the more notable cuts as teams got down to 75 players on Monday was the Broncos decision to release veteran snapper Lonie Paxton in favor of rookie Aaron Brewer.  Broncos head coach John Fox explained the move this week and gave some insight into what it takes for a younger snapper to unseat a veteran.

“He’s an exceptional athlete” according to Fox. “A lot of times with a snapper one of the things you look at is the protection element. He is like a center on the offensive line. He picked that up very, very quickly. He’s very athletic so he’s a really good cover guy for a center. A lot of times, people on punt returns don’t count that guy. We just felt great about his upside and his performance in the preseason games.”

With the final cuts due Friday evening, just four teams (Falcons, Bengals, Colts and Niners) have two snappers in camp.

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Veteran Lonie Paxton Released by Broncos

Posted on August 27, 2012 by longsnap

Today is the day that NFL teams must reduce their rosters to 75 players with the final cut to 53 occuring on Friday.   The Broncos cut veteran snapper Lonie Paxton, a 13 year veteran today giving rookie snapper Aaron Brewer the job.

A number of other snappers have also been let go in the last few days, including Patrick Scales (Ravens), Charley Hughlett (Cowboys), Derek Chard (Jets), Matt Katula (Steelers), Nick Guess (Chargers) and Travis Tripucka (Rams).

Once final rosters are set, Longsnap.com’s exclusive 2012 NFL Long Snappers Chart for the first week of the regular season will be posted.

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Snapping Prospects for 2013 NFL Draft

Posted on August 26, 2012 by longsnap

With the NFL and college seasons about to start, there are some senior college snappers that have already been identified as top prospects for the 2013 NFL Draft.

For the first time, the premier college all-star game, the Senior Bowl, has released a “Watch List” identifying some of the best talent in college.  The List includes two snappers, Carson Tinker of Alabama and Patrick Greene of Utah.

ESPN’s Scouts Inc has also produced its first set of 2013 Draft prospects and  features eight snappers.  Tinker is ranked at the top, followed by Jordan Cowart (Notre Dame), Peter Mangieri (Nebraska), Dax Dellenbach (Florida State), Greene, Luke Ingram (Hawaii), Taylor Klein (UAB) and Adam Steiner (Akron).

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Texas A&M Coach Tweets for Specialists

Posted on August 24, 2012 by longsnap

With the start of the college football season approaching, Kevin Sumlin, the new Head Coach at Texas A&M, sent out a message on Twitter yesterday to current A&M students looking for a snapper, kicker and punter.  Coach Sumlin was scheduling a meeting for today on campus to discuss walk-on tryouts for the specialist positions.  It will be interesting to see if any snapping talent was hiding among the student population.

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Everest Fired by Steelers

Posted on August 23, 2012 by longsnap

In a very rare move, the Steelers terminated Special Teams Coach Al Everest and have replaced him with Amos Jones, who had been his assistant.  Although it is not uncommon to have coaching changes at the end of the season, or, in some cases, during the season, it is highly unusual to fire a coach just prior to the start of the regular season.

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Alabama Snapper Awarded Scholarship

Posted on August 23, 2012 by longsnap

Alabama senior snapper Carson Tinker had a rough 2011 after he was injured and his girlfriend killed in a tornado back in April.  This season is off to a much better start already as Tinker is considered a solid NFL snapping prospect for the 2013 NFL Draft and has just learned that he will be awarded a scholarship for his final season.

Tinker’s story is yet another great example of the hard working and dedicated athletes that fill college and NFL rosters at the long snapping position.

Posted in College, NFL Draft | Leave a comment

Snappers May Need to Deal with New Footballs This Week

Posted on August 16, 2012 by longsnap

In 1999, kickers, punters and snappers had to contend with special kicking footballs, known as K balls.  Now, for at least the second week of preseason, all players will need to deal with a football with synthetic laces.

Apparently, the NFL has asked that teams use the synthetic lace football as a “test” rather than a ball with traditional leather laces.  Synthetic lace footballs, although common at the college and high school level, have already caused concern among NFL quarterbacks and some snappers as well.  Teams have been told they have the option of which ball to use during this week’s preseason games.

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