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Wednesday, October 17, 2001
Seeing life from a long-snapper’s view
Players have a crucial responsibility but are often only noticed when they fail
By Lee Goddard
Caller-Times

Paul Iverson/Caller-Times

Long-snappers like Sinton’s Raymond Lozano often view life upside down as they prepare to hike the ball to a waiting teammate.

The routine was always the same for Sinton's Raymond Lozano.
   Lozano had been a long-snapper since seventh grade, and carried it over to high school football. Every play had the same beginning; the ref would come in and say Lozano was "safe" until his head was up after snapping the ball, the other team would respect that and Lozano would go about his business of setting up field goals and punts.
   Lozano, now a junior, remembers back a couple years when he was suddenly jolted out of that routine by a blow to the back of the neck.
   "It was shocking," Lozano said. "I wasn't expecting it. Up until then, the referee said the center's got a white hat on. They couldn't touch me unless I was looking up. They hit me in the back of the neck. I ended up with a stinger."
   He once again got into a routine, that of being drilled before he could lift his head.
   "After that, I was a little nervous," Lozano said. "Then I figured it was a one-time deal. But they kept doing it. Just get my head up as soon as I can."
   It's part of a job that's low on recognition and rewards and high on punishment.
   Depending on what team they play, long-snappers may face long nights with blows to the back of the neck, cut blocks on the legs, shots delivered when they're off balance to knock them on their tails and facemasks being ground into the dirt. And, if the snapper hasn't lifted his head, it's technically illegal.
   But Lozano's first experience as a deep snapper mirrors some of those from across the area. Sometimes the players that line up over the snapper obey the rule and let the snapper lift his head, sometimes they don't.
   "No one really does it a lot," said Tyler Dodds, who has responsibility for Calallen's punt snaps. "Occasionally someone might take a shot at you but, for the most part, they're good about it.
   "There's no sense in crying about it," Dodds added. "That only makes it worse. If someone does take a shot at you, just go about trying to beat them in other ways."
   Those that cover the center like to take advantage of the snapper's vulnerable position to play some psychological games.
   "Deep snappers, you have to give them time," said San Diego's Servando Garcia, who covers the middle on defense and special teams. "I like to mess with them. Tell them I'm going to knock them back. Scare them a little bit. I tell them (I'm hitting them early) sometimes. But I really go as soon he moves his hands."
   The action actually starts before the hands move. Lozano, Dodds and Lucas Mireles, who handles Calallen's field goal snaps, all give a quick look up at the formation as they approach the line. They must figure if the other team is going to try and block the kick, or if they are playing for the return.
   The snapper looks back through his legs and checks the holder and the kicker. At this point in their snapping tenures, all three have got a handle on how much force to snap the ball back to the punter or holder.
   Then, for all three, it's two hands on the ball.
   "No cowboy snaps here," Mireles said. "Two hands every time. One to push the ball back, the other to put a spin on it and make it spiral."
   At this point, the ref has already declared the snapper off limits until his head is raised.
   When the ready signal is given, the snap is delivered.
   "Every time you do it, you're thinking, 'Is the guy going to push me back?' Well, most of the time, they'll hit you before you pick up your head," Lozano said. "But (the refs) don't really call it. They just tell them not to hit early.
   "The worst is a couple of times I got the snap off but got knocked flat on my rear end," he added. "It was embarrassing."
   Opposite the snapper, the middle guard is trying to time his hit on his man. If there's a call for a block, he must shatter the line's interior by overwhelming the snapper. In the case of punts, the long-snapper is allowed to release early and go downfield to cover the punt. If no block call is on, the middle guard must harass the snapper and hinder his progress down the field.
   So sometimes anticipation gets the better of the defender, and the snapper gets hit a bit premature.
   "I usually give the snapper some time," Garcia said. "If I time it right, I can hit him and throw him back down on the floor. Sometimes, I do get there a little bit early. But I've been lucky; they haven't called it."
   If the snapper needs to stay in and block, he'll try to wall off the defenders, giving the kicker time to get the kick away.
   But, in a punt situation, the snapper must then run a gauntlet to hustle downfield and cover the kick.
   "A lot of people go for the knees as soon as I snap it," Lozano said. "On a punt, the second level of linebackers will try to blindside you and take you out. As soon as you look up, you seem them coming out of the corner of your eye. They're coming to blindside you."
   Lozano, Dodds and their punt-snapping counterparts all go through the same thing. They weave through the linebackers, bust through any wedges or walls and make their way toward the punt returner.
   Then comes their shot at a reward. It may be downing a punt deep in the opponent's territory, or it may be a devastating shot on the return man.
   "Get off the line early and make your way downfield," Dodds said. "The reward comes if you get there first and can get a kill shot on the returner."
   For those snapping on field goals, the reward is a little more subdued but, the long-snappers said, just as satisfying.
   "The best reward is hearing, 'Good snap' while watching film on Saturday morning," Mireles said. "That's the only time you hear that. I might get that from my dad, but a center can snap the ball just fine 10 times, and that one time you have a crappy snap is when you get recognized. I'll just take the recognition on Saturday, and the handshake from (holder) Seth (Nitschmann) after a good snap."


Contact Lee Goddard at 886-3613 or goddardl@caller.com

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