A few months back Charlie Weis raised some eyebrows when he offered Saint Thomas Aquinas long snapper Jordan Cowart a scholarship. Many people, myself included, wondered why Weis would offer a long snapper a scholarship since most schools find their long snappers through walkon tryouts each year. Weis decided that he wanted to secure the long snapper position with someone who excelled at it though so he offered Cowart a scholarship.
I bring this up tonight, because Weis old boss, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, used a 6th round draft pick on Hawaii long snapper Jake Ingram on the second day of the NFL Draft today.
Mel Kiper actually had Ingram ranked as the best long snapper in this year’s draft, but the selection still was a surprise to the ESPN and NFL Network crews on Sunday.
Who knows, maybe Weis and Belichick have started a trend with drafting/recruiting long snappers?
“Birds of a feeather…”? Charlie and Bellycheck are both NJ-guys. I hate to insult by offering the obvious, but – like, duh?
Actually, the St. Louis Rams drafted Chris Massey to be, strictly, their long snapper, in the 7th round in 2002. He still holds that position.