Dr. Lecter
08-06-2012, 06:31 AM
PITTSFORD - Garrison Sanborn learned about the anonymity that comes with being a long snapper at a young age.
"I played at Jesuit High School [in Tampa, Fla.]. I played center, linebacker, and I snapped there, too," Sanborn said. "That was when I first learned I won't ever get recognized. At our awards banquet, I got the unheralded player award. My coach [Dominick Ciao] saw me and was like, 'It's you, your mom and me. That's the only three people who should know your name.' "
That's because when a long snapper is mentioned, it's almost always bad news.
Lucky for the Buffalo Bills, Sanborn's name has stayed out of the press for his entire three years with the team. Go ahead and try to think of a bad snap over that time.
Tough to come up with one, isn't it?
"The best thing to his credit is he's really improved over the last two years I've been here," said special teams coordinator Bruce DeHaven. "He went from a good snapper to right now, I think he's a very good snapper."
The importance of that should not be understated.
"As a special teams coach, if they only let you pick one guy for the team, you'd probably want to pick the snapper, because if you don't have one he's going to make everybody else look bad," DeHaven said. "The punter will look bad, the kicker will look bad, the protection looks bad, the coaches look bad. It's such an important position.
"I think it's a necessity that you have one like him."
Sanborn is meticulous in his preparation, sometimes to the dismay of the guy catching those snaps, punter and holder Brian Moorman.
"He asks me where every snap is. Practice, game it doesn't matter. He drives me crazy sometimes, in a good way," Moorman said.
A long snapper is focused on two goals for the snap - velocity and accuracy. For the first, an average NFL snap takes about .75 seconds to reach the punter, who's about 15 yards away. Sanborn, though, gets it back quicker than that.
"I take pride in being one of the faster guys in the league," he said. "I'd say I average between .67 to .69. That's my range."
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/article988251.ece
"I played at Jesuit High School [in Tampa, Fla.]. I played center, linebacker, and I snapped there, too," Sanborn said. "That was when I first learned I won't ever get recognized. At our awards banquet, I got the unheralded player award. My coach [Dominick Ciao] saw me and was like, 'It's you, your mom and me. That's the only three people who should know your name.' "
That's because when a long snapper is mentioned, it's almost always bad news.
Lucky for the Buffalo Bills, Sanborn's name has stayed out of the press for his entire three years with the team. Go ahead and try to think of a bad snap over that time.
Tough to come up with one, isn't it?
"The best thing to his credit is he's really improved over the last two years I've been here," said special teams coordinator Bruce DeHaven. "He went from a good snapper to right now, I think he's a very good snapper."
The importance of that should not be understated.
"As a special teams coach, if they only let you pick one guy for the team, you'd probably want to pick the snapper, because if you don't have one he's going to make everybody else look bad," DeHaven said. "The punter will look bad, the kicker will look bad, the protection looks bad, the coaches look bad. It's such an important position.
"I think it's a necessity that you have one like him."
Sanborn is meticulous in his preparation, sometimes to the dismay of the guy catching those snaps, punter and holder Brian Moorman.
"He asks me where every snap is. Practice, game it doesn't matter. He drives me crazy sometimes, in a good way," Moorman said.
A long snapper is focused on two goals for the snap - velocity and accuracy. For the first, an average NFL snap takes about .75 seconds to reach the punter, who's about 15 yards away. Sanborn, though, gets it back quicker than that.
"I take pride in being one of the faster guys in the league," he said. "I'd say I average between .67 to .69. That's my range."
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/article988251.ece