Thinking Skins

Just more information https://rubiosblog.com/?p=138 You are here: Home / Featured Posts / What Makes a Long Snapper Great? What Makes a Long Snapper Great? March 3, 2011 By Rubio I work with hundreds of Long Snappers per year and often get asked the question, what makes a Long Snapper great? The answer is something that I should be able to (don’t worry, I can) spray out to someone pretty darn clearly and with the utmost precision for a couple different reasons. First, I rank Long Snappers for a living on RubioLongSnapping.com so I probably should know what I am talking about and not just go off something like a ball hitting a target. It would be pretty ignorant of me to completely demolish a Long Snapper’s ranking simply because he missed a target by a quarter of an inch (would you punish a quarter back if he was aiming for the center of a receiver’s chest, but was off a quarter inch….didn’t think so). So much goes into the art of Long Snapping, but very few actually know what it entails. Second, I get asked by coaches of all levels that exact question (what makes a Long Snapper great? in case you already forgot) simply to challenge me. They are actually testing me and want to hear what I say to decide if I actually know what I am talking about. Can you imagine asking a world class chef why his food is so tasty and he responds with “um, well, it is hot and, um just tastes good.” You would not trust him and definitely would not think he knew what he was talking about. My answer needs to be precise and broken down so the average Joe can understand. For some reason, not everyone is as into Long Snapping as I am so I try to stay away from getting too technical. I know it is pathetic and sad, but it is what it is. I will work on the people I meet and you do the same. Hopefully, sooner than later, enough of us spraying can enable people to see the light and figure out that the “center just doesn’t do the snapping for punts too.” Those of you on my e-mail list have already received something similar to this, but I thought I might make it even clearer. Here, in my opinion, is what makes a Long Snapper great…… SPEED – This is easily one of the top things everyone sees when they watch a Long Snapper and it should be. How fast is your snap from 15 yards? We are talking from the instant you start your snap (that is when the defender can get moving) to the instant it hits the punter’s paws. You are looking for something below .78. Most top tier Long Snappers nowadays flirt with the high .6s. Obviously, the quicker you are the better your rank and the more people/coaches/agents will be drawn to you. Easy way to judge speed is to simply watch the ball from the side about ten yards away. Does the ball have an arch or is it still rising when it hits the punter? Arch is bad, rising is good….told you I would break it down for you:) Check out this video of Rubio Long Snapper Tanner Gibas (2011, CA – headed to Kansas) and how his ball is rising: Please note on this video: Gibas is basically trying to kill the person catching the ball. I love this (sorry Mr. Sue) because I ALWAYS teach my Long Snappers to snap the ball through the punter and not to him. Mr. Sue actually looks like he is trying to defend himself. I love it! Sorry, yet again Mr. Sue.The average high school Long Snapper hovers around the 1.0 second region. Most high school coaches don’t care simply because they just want the “ball to get there” (sound familiar to all of in the high school world?). The average college Long Snapper is mid .6s to high .7s.The pros are usually right around the same as college but they just don’t ever miss. They are like machines. ACCURACY– This is usually the third thing someone notices about a Long Snapper. How accurate are you when snapping. Meaning does the punter/holder have to move around a lot to catch your snaps. Best possible location is the right hip (for a right footed punter). Even though some punters like the ball at their chest, this is actually not that great of a spot since they (punters) have to turn the ball over and, for some reason, they can have troubles with this process. A great Long Snapper is not going to make their punter/holder move. Good way to test this is to have someone catch your snaps from about 15 yards away while sitting in a lawn chair. How many footballs in a row can you snap without making that person move? Five, ten, fifteen, fifty? Anything less than ten and you need some work in my book. Here is a good example of a Rubio Long Snapper, Scott Daly (2012 – IL – Starting at Notre Dame now), showing some very solid accuracy. The ball is in the same spot on all snaps. CONSISTENCY– This one is a bit tricky to understand since everyone always tries to lump it in with accuracy. Little bit different since consistency, in my eyes, means the ball staying the same speed the with each and every snap. Basically, you and the punter/holder/kicker are trying to create a rhythm. Given, the whole process starts with the most important person on the team, the Long Snapper. Your snap needs to be a good, consistent tempo at all times. It is very hard for a punter to get a rhythm with a Long Snapper if one snap is a rocket and the other is a floater. If you snap a .75 that is great, but is it like that every time? Varying your time from .7 to .8 is a massive valley to cross and can screw up the timing of everything. It is similar to seeing fast ball, fast ball, fast ball, change up…it would screw you up. Big issues with this category come when a Long Snapper has to snap and block. Below is a great video for consistency from Rubio Long Snapper Reid Ferguson (2012, GA, now at LSU). When you watch this masterpiece, note how the speed is almost identical on every single snap. It almost looks like one snap, cut and pasted over and over again. SIZE– This is either the first or second thing someone notices about a Long Snapper. Even before you snap a ball someone is going to judge you on your looks. Think about it. You ever look at the old time Cadillacs and say, “Man, I bet that thing hauls!” Not even close. You see a massive ride that isn’t going anywhere quick (quite comfy though).How big are you? How strong are you? Are you built well? Do you pass the eyeball test? If you got off a plane to visit a college coach, what would be the first thing he thought when he saw you? Size and look of your body is a big thing with colleges and, therefore, a big thing with me.Given, not everyone is 6’4″ and 250 lbs so you have to do the best with what you got. How would you look in just your underwear? If vomit is making its way to your mouth right now, you might want to hit the elliptical and some weights. If you are undersized you will need to make up in other ways to compensate (grades, perfect form, blocking, speed of ball, attitude, aggressiveness). Perfect example would be someone like Rubio Long Snapper Scott Thompson (2011, CA – headed to NC State). He is not a giant, but uses his solid Long Snapper frame….meaning massive butt and legs which is a good thing for a Long Snapper:)…exceptionally well. Watch this video to see Scott really utilizing his backside almost like a trebuchet…love it! Ideal Long Snapper frame? Rubio Long Snapper Nick Boyle (2011, NJ – headed to Delaware) is pretty darn close: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1HcXmsLmURU/TWgLSN0E2yI/AAAAAAAAACI/PS3MQgmP8Uw/s400/Rubio+and+Nick+Boyle.jpg Yours truly and Nick Boyle Please Note: I am not a small fellow (over 6 ft tall and above two turns on the scale) and Nick is making me look like a child. ATHLETICISM– how athletic are you? Can you move down field? Would you be able to divert the punt returner or even tackle him? Are you light on your feet or are you causing the ground to shake…in a bad way? Solid athleticism can really help out a ranking if you are under and over sized. It is not a deal breaker, but man oh man can it help a Long Snapper that is battling against another one in the coach’s eyes. On that note, I can reflect back on quite a few Long Snappers that are beyond sub-par athletes (think doing a layup, mind you with no one around, and launching it well over the backboard….not even kidding) that are exceptional at Long Snapping. BLOCKING– how well do you block? “My HS coach does not require me to block” doesn’t fly with me. It shows toughness and coaches will want to know if you can block. You say the school/coach you are getting recruited by does the spread punt….awesome! What happens if/when that coach leaves and the new one wants to see you block since he is doing the pro style? You aren’t going to say “sorry I don’t block” you are going to do exactly what you need to do to get/keep the starting spot. Blocking is a major selling point for a Long Snapper. You can jump up the rankings very quickly by being able to snap AND block. Like I always say, there are thousands of people that can snap a ball, and there are thousands that can block, but there are very, very few that can actually snap AND block. Look at this video of Rubio Long Snapper Samuel Rodgers (2011, PA – headed to Syracuse) and how his snap is the exact same (phenomenal) when he is blocking. Such a huge win to be able to do both. SPIRAL– This one is pretty basic. Either your ball spirals or it doesn’t. You can look at this one two ways. 1) Scientifically: tight spiral cuts through the wind due to less resistance. 2) Caveman: Bad spiral is hard for the punter, who is already fighting an uphill battle since they aren’t a Long Snapper, to catch. How well does your ball spiral? Having a very fast snap and little to no spiral will crush your speed, your ranking and the opinion of you in a coach’s eyes. Just think if someone didn’t know a ton about Long Snapping, wouldn’t a nice, pretty spiral be something that catches their eye? The answer is undoubtedly YES. MENTALITY– This is a huge one for Long Snappers and can absolutely crush you. Being a Long Snapper is extremely challenging because you essentially can never obtain a rhythm. A lineman misses a block and he has about forty seconds before he can redeem himself. You might have to wait for twenty to thirty minutes. You snap a perfect ball, jog off the field and have to wait for a large chunk of time to get back in there. The only time you are on the field a ton is if your team is great (pats) or terrible (punts).How well do you handle pressure? Look at the picture below. Would that bother you or would you thrive on it? Being a Long Snapper is a difficult position. If it was easy, quarterbacks would do it:) Coaches and I need to see how well you handle pressure and awkward situations. When you are playing in front of 100,000 people are you going to tell them all to shoosh? Nope. Didn’t think so. When you combine all of these factors with a solid work ethic, you will get a Long Snapper that is simply a juggernaut. See, that is the trick. Finding someone that has all the attributes AND is willing to put in the time and effort. When you mix them all together you will obtain something along the lines of this (turn your volume WAY up so you can fully embrace)….. For those of that don’t know (welcome back from living under that rock you have been calling home for the past 8 years), in the video is long time Rubio Long Snapper Christian Yount. He is someone that got into Long Snapping simply to get a spot on the bus. After hearing his HS coach tell him to “not even bother with Long Snapping since no one goes to college simply for that”, Christian accomplished the following…. He went out and received a full scholarship to UCLA during his junior year (first to ever do that) He was the only member of his HS team to get a full ride (the irony on this simply delicious) He started all four years at UCLA He was a two time Playboy All-American (the first one to ever be chosen) He was selected to the Senior Bowl He played in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Bucaneers, Cleveland Browns and the New England Patriots. To top it all off, and in the Long Snapper way, Christian is a superb human being. Combine it all and you have a Long Snapper that is, well, great.

I disagree. I think the fact that they're sticking with it means that something is going right. What Way said during the preseason was it was about ball speed and spin. My question is, is it now getting there faster even with the bounce? Like, what's the net effect? People are complaining but wasn't he a pro bowler last year? If he's saving time on these kicks and can perfect this spin it can help us.

Some of the advanced stats on Sam Howell's performance yesterday. Here's where he ranked among 30 QBs who started (@NextGenStats). Time to Throw: 20th Int Air Yds: 10th Comp Air Yds: 5th Yds to Sticks: 19th Cmp Over Exp: 14th Aggressive %: 10th Mixed bag. A lot to improve on. — Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) September 11, 2023

I just like the resiliency in this team. I was on Twitter and people were like down because of the fumble and then the being down and I was just like all it takes is one play. And they were just like not with this team man. But I'm not seeing that. I thought Wentz had it last year when he came back against Jacksonville in similar fashion, but he's seasoned vet. Howell is a young guy who's learning so this is fun.

1. Logan makes those catches 2. Gibson doesn't fumble 3. Howell doesn't fumble 4. No Howell pick 5. No bad OPI call 6. No bad 3rd down missed first down on that screen. Any of those taken back and it's easier for us.

OK, we just disagree on what Jay is saying. I never said it said Hurts = Howell. I focused on the part where Ben said coaching out of the throwing out of ball away and athleticism because I enjoyed that part. Me. I'm the custoer I'm listening for me. So I enjoyed that part. I enjoyed that Jay Gruden Quote so much that I decided to transcribe it for the record and for the rest of the ES community. Like I said, I thought it was a really good Gruden interview. The rest of it I thought was meh, but that quote was beautiful. :chefs kiss: So what if Howell isn't Hurts or Jackson or Jones or Allen in terms of athleticism. The point is he has some athleticism so he can keep plays open and beat you both ways. But I'm letting this one go. I enjoyed this quote. I'm not enjoyign the back and forth about who's right and who's not. If you're sure you're right. then you're right. I give up. It's not that big to me. Well, I think you can, but you need durability and a cannon for an arm. Heinicke has durability right now but no cannon. Baker's main problem has been durability. I think people would have worked with him not running if he could stay healthy, but he couldn't. And he can't protect himself so it adds up.

Only thing about Baker is that he's not a rusher ... like at all. Every year in his career he has less than 200 yards. He has a few rushing TDs, but I don't see him as a super mobile guy and that's kinda why I can see him on his current career arc.

Huh. What's going on here. 1. I said Jay Compared him to Hurts 2. I provided a quote where Jay compares him to Hurts. How am I wrong? Edit. when I noted the Hurts stuff, It wasn't to say he didn't compare him to Minshew, I just didn't/don't care about that. What stood out to me and perked my ears was the quote that I outlined because as Ben said, "do you want to coach it out of him" and as Jay responded "no you need that mobility in today's NFL". I loved that back and forth and I love that he seems to think Howell has mobility (at least in my opinion). If you don't think he thinks Howell has that mobility that's on you. I think he said He can bail Beinemy out, which clearly says Howell can do it. Edit 2: I'm editing this again because I wasn't the first to mention Heinicke. I didn't care about Heinicke. I didn't care about Heinicie. I didn't come in here with Heinicke. I came with Hurts. You mentioned Heinicke. I said Hurts. The quote at 31 was the one that wowed me.

So to counter, I'll offer how the Raiders OL did against the the Denver DL in pass protection.

Yeah, but he was saying that Howell has mobility - unless you call Howell a true dropback QB. I'm not saying He's a Hurts or a Jackson either, but its the mobility element that can save a play that like he said takes a lof of pressure off EB. Its the opposite of Kirk or Alex or Haskins. Its not to the level of an RG3 or a Hurts or a Jackson but you have seen in both games as a pro that its there.

And the thing is. They were in cover 3 and there was so much underneath that the question was why force the deep stuff when they are giving us the short (if we don't get sacked).

That's exactly what I was thinking. If it had been anybody other than Hoffman who tweeted that I would have responded that, but I do't think Hoffman likes to be corrected.

No, he mentioned Hurts. Standig mentioned Heinicke, but Jay mentioned Hurts. I'm trying to get the exact quote. I'm at 31:29 of the Podcast (Standig room only) and Ben Standig just compared Howell to a combination to Heinicke and Wentz, but is unwilling to get rid of the ball and asks Jay if you want to "beat it out of a young QB" Jay responds "well you don't want to beat it out of him because you do need his ability to make plays off schedule. That is a critical component of football QBs nowadays. The true dropback QBs are hard to find and they're not productive at a young age. You need to have the mobility. See Jaylen Hurts what he does with his legs, QB designed runs, obviouisly Lamar, and some of these other teams. and Qbs that are athletic. It takes a lot of the pressre off Eric Biemiemy. You call a play that's covered and he scrambles around fifteen twenty yards and gets you a first down and new set of downs thats critical. So you don't want to beat it out of him but you have to understand Sam, you don't want to make a bad play worse. "

So I'm looking at stuff some more and take this for what its worth, PFF is not gospel. These are their CBs Pat Surtain has a score of 82.2, which means that could be a good matchup. But Damarri Mathis has a score of 27.8 and he was their second best corner. So is that a good day for our Number 2 and 3 WRs? Lets Check on their Safeties Kareem Jackson has a PFF score of 65.8 Justin Simmons has a PFF score of 40.4 Lets look at their LBs Alex Singleton has a PFF score of 90.4 Josey Jewell has a PFF score of 79.3 Lets look at their DL Frank Clark has a PFF grade of 48.3 Randy Gregory has a PFF grade of 56.9 Jonathan Cooper has a PFF score of 68.9 Jonathan Harris has a pff grade of 36.0 Mike Purcell has a PFF grade of 61.6 Does that look scary? Overpowering? I don't think so

The other thing is that, it wasn't just that he said that he wasn't a fan of this OL. He also said "They probably tried, but offensive linemen don't grow on trees" and "its had to find these guys" mentioned Spensor Long and Morgon Moses and a bunch of other guys who they brought in. Then they went into the Kirk talk.

That was one of Jay's better interviews. I listened to it and was really nodding my head with his insight. You say the blanket statment "He likes Howell, doesn't love him clearly based on some of the other podcasts I've listened to from him. He compares him to Minshew." What he was saying in this interview was the give and take of a runing/athetic QB like Howell and how it will make your line look bad because they will hold the ball too long thinking they can make more plays than they should. Then Standing said how do you coach that out of them. Then he said, no no no, you don't coach that out of them because thats what makes them special. You've just just got to hope they learn to get better with it. And you mentioned Minshew, I thought I heard him mention Hurtz.

I was waiting for somebody to say this. Or Chase Daniel Or Jake Fromm

They have no defense. They weren't stopping the LV drives. They have special teams - no kicker (missed an XP, a FG and an onside kick) Their punter was averaging 40 yards per punt. Wilson's completed passes were to Williams, Dulcich, McLaughlin, Sutton, Perine, Trautman, Mims, Humphrey. I mean I don't recognize any of those names other than Sutton and Williams and Perine. Williams and Perine are RBs. The others are unestablished TEs This will NOT be Russell Wilson's comeback game. We win 24 - 13.

I don't know what I was thinking with this response, but I was off. This was the crux of his game. I don't know if by design of moxie, but dude was running from pressure. He had at least 3 scrambles (one that they say was a sack) another that was a scramble for -1 yards that counts as a sack. Then there's the beautiful passes like the one to BRob for the TD where he moves the pocket and zips it and it was a thing of beauty. These may not be all the same but they show what we're working with

this one Yeah this isn't a sack

This is a positive post on Charles And here's a positive post on Cosbi

Good on noticing that. Probably got him cursed out.

Sorry I hate names. My wife thinks I have a mental problem because I call people by the wrong names all the time. Yeah Collins. But I corrected it. I was referring to the play by the blitz with the LB where Howell fumbled. It wasn't Collins anyway. It was another guy #45, who beat Wylie.

Honestly, I saw Simmons come a lot. I guess he is a DE. I thought he was a LB and they were bringing 5 / bringing 4 and dropping a lineman but I wasn't really focusing on it. Edit: Sorry, It was Dennis Gardeick. Maybe not a lot, but it happened.