How to long snap for a punt, field goal and extra point

hey it's goat Callaway here we got a great show for you today we recently visited with Long Snapper Steven Nixon out on the field and discussed several topics we first discussed the recruiting

process and how Steph took matters into his own hands and was proactive reaching out to colleges and ultimately landed a full ride football scholarship it's really great stuff then we discussed his

specialty of long snapping and we hit the field and talked about the five keys to successful long snap coming up next right here on the Callaway football [Music]

[Music] network hey cway football we know snapping is one of the most important things in football and that position is really the most important position on

the field and the reason is because the last time I checked you can't start a play without a successful snap so we're really excited to talk to Steven today Steven thanks for joining us here at cway football thank you thank you very much so you play for Mercer yes sir I

tell us a little bit about the program uh we started up four or five years ago we're in the Southern Conference uh we play teams like Ferman wford Sanford University and uh we're really up and coming so that's great and you guys are

just south of Atlanta down in mon is that right yes sir an hour below the airport well good understand you you were recruited by several schools and really liked Mercer what made you choose Mercer uh well I I received a

scholarship coming out of high school to Long snap and only long snap so that's why I chose Mercer over a lot of other schools that had offered me a preferred walk- on yeah hey Cali football We Run The no huddle up Tempo offense we're in

the gun about 99% of the time play can't get started without a snap and we all know that special teams wins and loses football games on Saturdays and Sundays right that's right so I I know what you do is very important so tell me about

long snapping where did you get started snapping and when did you decide hey I think I can get a scholarship doing this well my dad taught me how to hold the football in sixth grade from what he knew whenever he played high school and then whenever I got to about 9th grade

my coaches said you know you you should really go try and take this thing seriously so I started really taking it seriously in the ninth grade and uh here I am now that's awesome so tell me a little bit about the recruiting process

how was that it was uh really tough the long Snappers are always the very last person to get recruited so if you're sitting there senior year uh finishing up your senior season you hadn't have you don't have one offer yet don't worry they're going to come but the Long

Snapper is the last person any college coach is recruiting um it takes a lot of hard work I sent I stayed up many many hours sending emails to coaches you know I had a I made up a mock email and sent

it to every coach with their name on it and uh it paid off for three I actually three schools I emailed end up getting three preferred walk-on offers man that that's that's great information guys if if you're a high school player and

you're going through the recruiting process man it's awesome to hear Steven talk about how he got emails prepared there's proactive sending those out to coaches so that they can look at his skills that's great advice stepen we

really appreciate that well I have to tell you I think long snapping it can pay you at the next level too uh one of my assistant coaches for many years when I coached at Roswell High School was Mike Ruther he's a little old for you

but Mike was retired NFL player he was an offensive lineman for a long time and then when he retired he was coaching with me he was my offensive line coach and then one day he got called by the Minnesota Vikings because he was a Long

Snapper they said hey our Long Snapper just went down in training camp we'll pay you $3 million a year if you just come long snap for us and he said coach I got to go I mean it's a skill that uh is highly

sought after in the both in college and NFL level absolutely all every team needs one yeah so so you got to have a good one at least one of them well that's cool well tell me a little bit

about um your you train kids right I do I do one-on-one lessons here in uh North Georgia uh I'm here three months out of the Year doing lessons and then I do lessons in uh mon Georgia nine months

out of the year so I'm here in the Metro Atlanta area so how if a kid was wanting to develop a skill of long snapping how would they get in touch with you well they need to call me on my cell phone

number at 770 714 4126 or email me at Stephen nixon8 gmail.com that's great we'll put that information on below right here on the video so if you like to contact Steph we

encourage you to do that so we really appreciate it so we want to go out here on the field and get some snapping how about that all right let's get it done all right let's get it done hey step Nixon from mer University here's my five

keys to Long snapping step number one is the grip and how to hold the football the proper way hold the ball like you're going to throw it like a like a quarterback and flip it over and you want to put your middle finger on the

middle seam right here on the ball middle finger on the middle seam that's step one of my five keissy success of long snapping step two to my keysy success

for long snapping is The Stance so when you line up to the ball and approach the ball you want to be your feet need to be outside your shoulder width but not not too far you want to be comfortable and then what you do after this when you

approach the ball and reach down to grab the ball is you want to have a big butt and a big chest and you want to sit down and grab the ball just like step one with your middle finger on the end seam

and your right hand holding the ball like you're going to throw it this is step two of my long snapping process step three of my long snapping process is being comfortable in your

stance so what you want to look at here is you don't want your knees over your toes okay and you want to be sitting back in your heels 80% of your power from your snap comes from your leg so

you want to drive your butt back you don't want it up you want it back to the punter cuz in that way you engage your hamstrings in your glutitis Maximus

that's step three of my long snapping instructions step four is one of the most critical steps in the whole long snapping process flexibility especially in your lower half when you're snapping

you've got to stay flexible when you when you snap you want to lock your legs out to where your knees are completely locked out they should almost look like

a bow in a bow and arrow so ways to stay flexible is to stretch before and after every lift practice Andor game and I stretch every night before I go to bed

and that way I can lock my legs out and get through and have a good snap every time that's step four of my long snapping lessons my fifth and final step to Long snapping is the follow through

grip the ball like you do in grip one move it to your forehead and you want to finish wrist together thumbs out best ways to practice this final step is you

can do it laying in your bed on your back doing that right there or you if you have a partner catching you can simply throw it from three yards or five yards throwing it away just like this

finishing your wrist together and thumbs out this creates your spiral and this is your final and fifth step guys this is how it's done so stepen that was great here in

your fstep process to successful long snapping good stuff right there appreciate that thank you so look we had talked about that a play doesn't start without a good snap right and at Callaway football as I mentioned we are in the gun 99% of the time running no

huddle up Tempo stuff so what's the difference between a gun snap where the quarterback's three or four yards behind you and a long snap for a punt well coaster is actually a really big difference the really only similarity in

the two snaps is step two is your stance you still want to be really comfortable when you do a center stance Maybe feet out just just wider than your armpits the only thing you do on a center snap

is you get comfortable and you want to throw the ball straight back keeping your wrist locked that's the biggest key most kids want to break their wrist and actually throw it like that and that's why the ball sails higher than the

quarterback because if you keep your wrist lock and go straight back once their arm hits your leg and let go of the ball the ball should land right in the quarterback's Bread Basket so so tell the the players out there and the

coaches as well that's listening to us today uh that's great stuff about keeping your your wrist firm and and not breaking your wrist but how about Your Tail cuz you know especially at the youth in high school level you see

centers that get their tail too high and the ball comes out High that's right well an easy way to judge that and no you want to put the you know when you're when you're looking through your legs you don't want your but to be any higher

than the quarterback's chest the higher your butt is the higher your ball is going to go so if you're slapping a low ball you need to probably either bring your bring your butt up or you need to finish with your arms higher or vice

versa that's a great coaching point hope everybody enjoyed that that was really some good information from Steph both from the recruiting standpoint on how to be proactive and reach out to colleges to seek after that scholarship as well

as if you're interested in getting lessons from Steven and you're in the north Georgia area or the Atlanta metro area don't forget to reach out to stepen he offers lessons on Long snapping to finish the show today we want to discuss

with you ways that you can connect with us here at Callaway football so stay tuned for that coming up right now all right just before we wrap up today's program we want to talk about ways that you can connect with us here

at Callaway football if you're at our YouTube channel go ahead and hit that red subscribe button you definitely want to become a subscriber if you're at our website we want to encourage you to cruise over to YouTube when you get to the YouTube search in the search field

for the Callaway football network work you can see what our homepage looks like right there and make sure you become a subscriber we are producing weekly programming out at our YouTube channel as a new program eras every Friday and

we're really covering the game of football from all angles from coaching resources chalk talk sessions instructional lessons as well as Player Development programming for players and

overall fan entertainment programming so if you're just a fan of football a coach or a player you really want to become a subscriber we're discussing industry insights news and highlights interviews

really behind the curtain look into the game of football top analysis and top plays and so much more going on out at our YouTube channel as well as our Callaway foot.com website which is for

coaches only it is a membership site where you can go out and get into our training center and there's just a wealth of information and resources available for you out at caway foot.com

it's really everything you need as a coach both on the field and off the field from leadership development for both coaches and players parent and team management information

and resources practice structure and schedules a tremendous library of practice drills out there a ton of uh drills for you posted out at that

library and a comprehensive 600 page Playbook uh both offensive defensive and special team plays out at Callaway foot.com and really so much more it is a

place for all coaches to go we have become the number one coaching resource at Callaway foot.com and as I mentioned we have free membership levels out out there as well as premium membership levels but most coaches go ahead and

sign up for that premium membership level it's really insignificant it's only $59 per year per coach to become a premium member and it gives you complete access to all of the tools and resources

we have posted out in our premium member library and our training center at the website so go out and make that happen if you haven't done that already a couple other ways to connect with us is through our Twitter account go ahead and

go out to Twitter and follow us at Callaway FB that's what our Twitter handle is and what our Twitter page looks like as well as Facebook at facebook.com Callaway football so we

give you multiple ways to connect with us and that'll wrap up today's show so until next time coach I hope to see you on the

[Music] [Music] field