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When I bought tickets to attend the Wisconsin vs. Notre Dame game at Soldier Field (what a shithole to be honest) I had the pleasure of sitting next to a former Scholarship UW Madison football player from the late 80's (when Don Morton was the coach). Due to results I have been banned from my friends from attending UW Madison Football Road Games. Being a chatty guy, I go to know this former UW OLineman and noticed his son was about 6 1" and about 190 lbs and played high school football.
I almost Sh#t on myself when his dad told me his son just signed a college scholarship to attend the University of Arkansas.......as.............a SNAPPER
Snappers get scholarships, I thought...holy shit ...........In speaking to his proud father, I learned a shit ton about special teams play as well as the timing and expectations now between the snapper, kickers, and punters.
His son, apparently, with one scouting service was rated as the #3 Loan Snapper in the USA
I chatted with him for nearly a half hour for the game and picked his head about all of this unfathomable stuff and learned a ton. Long Snapping has become a specialty and apparently his son has went to camps and did over 10,000 long snaps since 7th grade. U Arkansas put him through about 2.5 hours of snapping and hand speed drills and then made the offer.
The expectations have massively changed over the years. Apparently going into college the average span time from snapper to punter is about .67 seconds. In the pro's it's around .72 seconds because they stress speed a bit less and the position of where the ball is when the holder catches the ball MORE. If a long snapper can make four to five special teams tackles a year that is considered elite because then they have to have a blocker block the LS and it frees another person up.
ANYWAYS, back to the Expectations. This kid was judged off of the speed, accuracy, and how frequently the snap was caught by the punter with the laces "up". When snapping for kicks, the expectation is the snap should be accurate enough to the holder places the ball down and doesn't need to spin the football. The place kick is all about timing. Bad snap...and/or bad hold will screw up the timing and often the kick as well.
This got me thinking. Years ago I thought Ryan Longwell was a whining piss baby when he went through a bad streak of missing some kicks, and he was incredibly accurate and a fabulous kicker for the Packers.
The other day Crosby was obviously pissed at the snapper and/or the holder on both of his missed kicks.
If you rely on what college universities want out of their snappers, a strong part of the failure fell on the snapper on both of those kicks. Neither snap was set up for the holder to just place the ball down. One snap was really high and the holder tried spinning the ball, and the next was such a tranwreck that Crosby was kicking into the laces (unacceptable for a consistent kick).
I only really noticed this more, due to the conversations I had with that father.
When I watched the night game, I think it was the Rams, I noticed a perfect snap, laces out, no spinning on the hold. I shook my head and thought that was the perfect snap and timing.
I think the Packers just made a change on their snapper; don't be surprised if another one comes soon.
I don't think those misses are on Crosby
I almost Sh#t on myself when his dad told me his son just signed a college scholarship to attend the University of Arkansas.......as.............a SNAPPER
Snappers get scholarships, I thought...holy shit ...........In speaking to his proud father, I learned a shit ton about special teams play as well as the timing and expectations now between the snapper, kickers, and punters.
His son, apparently, with one scouting service was rated as the #3 Loan Snapper in the USA
I chatted with him for nearly a half hour for the game and picked his head about all of this unfathomable stuff and learned a ton. Long Snapping has become a specialty and apparently his son has went to camps and did over 10,000 long snaps since 7th grade. U Arkansas put him through about 2.5 hours of snapping and hand speed drills and then made the offer.
The expectations have massively changed over the years. Apparently going into college the average span time from snapper to punter is about .67 seconds. In the pro's it's around .72 seconds because they stress speed a bit less and the position of where the ball is when the holder catches the ball MORE. If a long snapper can make four to five special teams tackles a year that is considered elite because then they have to have a blocker block the LS and it frees another person up.
ANYWAYS, back to the Expectations. This kid was judged off of the speed, accuracy, and how frequently the snap was caught by the punter with the laces "up". When snapping for kicks, the expectation is the snap should be accurate enough to the holder places the ball down and doesn't need to spin the football. The place kick is all about timing. Bad snap...and/or bad hold will screw up the timing and often the kick as well.
This got me thinking. Years ago I thought Ryan Longwell was a whining piss baby when he went through a bad streak of missing some kicks, and he was incredibly accurate and a fabulous kicker for the Packers.
The other day Crosby was obviously pissed at the snapper and/or the holder on both of his missed kicks.
If you rely on what college universities want out of their snappers, a strong part of the failure fell on the snapper on both of those kicks. Neither snap was set up for the holder to just place the ball down. One snap was really high and the holder tried spinning the ball, and the next was such a tranwreck that Crosby was kicking into the laces (unacceptable for a consistent kick).
I only really noticed this more, due to the conversations I had with that father.
When I watched the night game, I think it was the Rams, I noticed a perfect snap, laces out, no spinning on the hold. I shook my head and thought that was the perfect snap and timing.
I think the Packers just made a change on their snapper; don't be surprised if another one comes soon.
I don't think those misses are on Crosby
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