Longsnapping -Mark Gress Jr.

Besides most back-up players in the National Football League, those who are holders, “wedge-busters” or longsnappers have to be considered the most unsung heroes in the league. Of those, the longsnapper could be the most unsung.

Usually when you hear about longsnappers, like most unsung and underappreciated players, it is when they make a mistake and cost their team a play or even the game that they get noticed. For example, in the 2003 National Football Conference playoffs, the New York Giants set up for a game-winning field-goal and their longsnapper, Trey Junkin, threw a groundball back to the holder and cost the Giants the game and their season.

Never before had a longsnapper been the top news story on ESPN until Junkin’s blunder.

Although unfortunate, I appreciated the fact that the position was getting some press. The last time I had heard the position mentioned on air or read anything in the newspaper, was when, I believe it was FOX, ran a five minute special on Philadelphia Eagles’ longsnapper Mike Bartrum. Bartrum, a tight-end from Marshall University, is considered the best longsnapper in the NFL.

Back in 2002, some national newspapers like the USA Today and the NFL Insider named Bartrum the league’s best longsnapper. He also happens to be one of the highest paid players at his position in the NFL.

I was also a longsnapper, albeit on a smaller level, in high school and adopted Bartrum as someone to model myself after. I watched him for form, but I remember from the special on FOX that there is no “right” or “wrong” way to longsnap.

Personally, I think it is like a golf swing- there are set or common ways of longsnapping, but, because of body type, personal attributes and strengths, players develop their own ways of longsnapping.

I would always go through the same ritual before longsnapping. First, I set my feet up a little more than shoulder width apart and bend my knees slightly. Next, I bent at the waist and grab the football with my strong hand, my right hand. Some longsnappers grab the ball at the laces and others, like Bartrum grab the ball with the “faces”. Comfort and subsequent consistency depend on how you may want to snap. I grip the ball with the laces like I am throwing the football normally, standing upright like a quarterback (not throwing the ball between my legs).

Then, I place my left hand, which is my off-hand, on the “faces” of the football which is used like the off-hand in basketball. It is simply used as a guide for most longsnappers.

In one fluid motion, I would then “snap” the ball back to the punter throwing it through my legs. The right hand, or whatever your strong hand is, should be the most dominant like a quarterback would throw the ball. The off-hand is kept on the ball all of the way through the snapping motion as it helps to create the spiral of the football.

It is an art form. It takes practice and very good form. Very few people can perfect longsnapping like Mike Bartrum. To show how valuable Bartrum is to the Eagles, look no further than one of their most recent acquisitions. The Eagles’ starting tight end Chad Lewis was injured for the season and that moved Bartrum into the backup tight end role. Fearing any further injury to the Eagles’ tight ends, the team decided to sign another free agent so that Bartrum would not have to play with the exception of special teams and the most undervalued position of longsnapper.