There are many ways to get noticed on the football field. Scoring a touchdown is often the easiest way. For a defensive player, making a big hit or intercepting a pass can get a player a lot of attention. Even on special teams, a clutch field goal or a long return of a kickoff or a punt can get you noticed.
There is at least one position, however, where you “don’t get noticed unless you mess up.”
That’s what Clarinda junior Sam Kline said about his main position, long snapper, and what he has done to get himself noticed at the collegiate level.
The long snapper is the position that snaps the football back to the punter and to the holder for a field goal or extra point attempt. Kline already has gone on a gameday visit this season to South Dakota State and will be on the Drake sideline Saturday as the Bulldogs take on Morehead State.
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He went to camps at South Dakota State and at Iowa State over the summer and said he plans on going to several more next summer with the ultimate goal of playing for the team he has liked throughout his youth, Iowa State.
“I have grown up a big Iowa State fan,” Kline said, “but being able to go anywhere and play at the Division 1 level would be pretty cool.”
Kline said the main practice for being a long snapper is the same as for any position in any sport and that’s repetition.
“There are some drills to do to get better,” Kline said, “but it’s mostly repetition and being crisp all the time. I try to practice a couple of times a week. Now that football season is over, I can work on it a little bit more.”
Kline said his interest in being a long snapper started his freshman year with him simply looking for a way to get on the field.
“I wasn’t on the field much my freshman year,” Kline said, “So I tried something to get onto the field and I was naturally good (at long snapping), and I decided maybe I could do this in college.”
Kline looks to be well on his way, saying a good college snap gets from the snapper’s hand to the punter in .7 seconds. He said he is in the .7 to .75 second range right now. He said a long snap for a punt, though, is quite a bit different than a long snap for a field goal or extra point.
“For a field goal, your legs aren’t bent and it’s all in your arms,” Kline said. “For a punt, it’s a lot farther of a snap, so you use your arms and legs.”
A punt snap is about twice as far as a field goal snap. The snapper is given protection, meaning an opposing player can’t make contact with him on both of those plays. Kline said, with that, after he snaps a field goal or extra point, it’s mainly just holding his arms out to help the lineman next to him, while on a punt he takes off.
“I’m normally the first one down there,” Kline said about this season’s punts. “I forced quite a few fair catches this year.”
While Kline has been Clarinda’s long snapper since he started learning the position, he had to step up at more traditional positions on offense and defense this season and ended the year fourth on the team with 30 tackles.
“I didn’t know how much I would be able to play (going into the season),” Kline said. “But we had a couple guys go down and I was able to step up and find my role.”
He added it was a fun junior season, being a big part of a Cardinal team that won six games and qualified for the Class 2A playoffs. He said his favorite parts of the season were the Homecoming win over Interstate 35 and clinching a home playoff game in the win at Centerville, which wrapped up the regular season.
Kline also plays basketball and golf for Clarinda. He has also played baseball, but said he’s likely done with that sport to focus on going to more football camps next summer. He has one football season left and said he’s hoping to leave his mark on the program.
“Hopefully we can move further into the playoffs than we have before,” Kline said about next football season, “and I want to continue to be successful in my other sports.”
Kline said while he enjoys being a long snapper and is excited about the possibility of playing Division 1 college football, the long snapper position is often the final spot in a college team’s recruiting class, meaning he’ll likely have to wait until after next football season to see offers start coming in.
“I’m just hoping to continue to get better,” Kline said, “go to camps and get noticed more. Most long snappers are recruited a lot later than most other positions. I have to stay patient.”
He expects to be able to attend as many as seven or eight camps in the summer and hopefully make enough of an impact to be able to play on Saturdays.
