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Football
McQuaide Hoping to be Next Buckeye You Forget
By John Porentas

Ohio State returns one of the most veteran teams it has ever fielded in 2008. Experience returns at every position including those at which they lost starters last season. The lone exception to that rule is at the long snapper position.

The line of great long snappers at OSU is impressive. Dimitrious Makridis performed well last season, particularly in rain-soaked Michigan Stadium where a bad snap may have cost the Buckeyes a game. It didn't happen. Before Makridis, Drew "Chucky" Norman was as reliable as clockwork as OSU's guy over the ball on special teams. Before him, Kyle Andrews was OSU's long snapper through the 2003 season. OSU long snapper Kevin Houser actually had a long NFL career at that position after playing almost no time at all at tight end during his OSU career.

If that list of long snappers jogged your memory a little, be thankful. Long snappers, good ones at least, are just like holders, the most forgettable players on any roster. You only remember them if they make mistakes, and if you didn't remember those names, it means they were probably doing their jobs very well.

Jake McQuaide
Photo by Jim Davidson

Jake McQuaide wants to be the next player you forget. McQuaide will be a redshirt sophomore next season and is currently the odds-on favorite to handle at least part of OSU's long-snapping this fall. McQuaide understudied one season under both Norman and Makridis and a second under Makridis alone. McQuaide actually got into three preseason games last year as a redshirt freshman. This year with no returners at the position McQuaide is hoping to play his way into anonymity, kind of as a tribute to those other long snappers you've forgotten, but he remembers.

"I just feel like the best testament to them would be to be the best long snapper in the country," said McQuaide. "I would not be anywhere the long snapper that I am today without those guys. They taught me so much and helped be get to where I am."

At 6-3, 225, McQuaide will bring a bit more size to the long snapping position than Makridis did in 2007, and that should help him in blocking situations. He doesn't claim to be a sprinter, but will hustle downfield to make tackles on the punt team. All those things are important, but nothing is quite as important for the long snapper than the snap itself. McQuaide has a very clear idea of what it is that makes for a great, and therefore forgettable, long snapper.

"Any good long snapper you want consistency every time," said McQuaide.

"You want a consistent snap in the window every time.

"The window for a punt would be around the punter's right hip for a right footed punter.

"For a field goal usually you aim for their back knee when they're kneeling down."

Getting the ball to the holder or punter in the right spot is half the snap. Getting to him quickly enough to allow the completion of the kicking operation is the other half. If the snap is good the chances of a blocked kick are slim. On punts where the kicker is 15 yards deep the OSU coaching staff wants the kick off in less-than two seconds. Less than half that time is allotted to flight time of the ball to the punter from the long snapper.

"We usually shoot for under .7 seconds (flight time) and our get-off needs to be under 1.9 seconds," said McQuaide. "I'm usually anywhere from .66 to .68."

Field goals and PATs are another matter. The Buckeyes shoot for a shorter get off time on placements.

"For field goal we shoot for 1.3 for the entire operation," said McQuaide.

That's 1.3 for snap, catch, placement and kick. Flight time for the snap is right around .35 seconds. So quick you probably forget about that snap about the time the ball splits the uprights, but without that rocket back to the holder, the field goal doesn't happen. The snap is so important to OSU Head Coach Jim Tressel that he has a grad assistant whose job it is to monitor snappers for the snap without any regard to what they do after the snap.

"My evaluation in punt is different that Coach Fickell's," said grad assistant Chad Rogosheske of his role in monitoring OSU's punting game.

"I want to be very sure they get a good snap.

"I would always say snap first because if the snap isn't there we're not going too get a punt anyway.

"Coach Fickell really evaluates them on the scheme and how well we can get back and protect and cover.

"That's important too and sometimes I lose sight of that because I'm just focused on whether the snap is in the window, then I start to look at the punter's technique and not bother to watch as well as I should how well they protect and how well they cover."

The snap may be priority one, but the snapper does have responsibilities once the snap is made. McQuaide thinks he's up to getting the job done in that capacity as well.

"In our blocking scheme for our punt we do things a little bit different some times," McQuaide said.

"Michigan doesn't have their long snapper block, but we are responsible for our gap, the A-gap (between center and guard).

"You have to be able to snap, get back and block, then you also have to cover.

"You have to have decent speed.

"I'm obviously not going to be the fastest guy out there. We've got Marcus Freeman and all those type guys out there, but I try my best to get down there. I'm all effort at least.

"I'm not the fastest guy in the world, but I'm usually one of the first guys down there just because I'm giving full effort. That's just the kind of guy I am. I'm going to get down there."

At 6-3, 225 McQuaide is not exactly an offensive lineman, but has enough bulk to be an effective blocker because of the way teams usually attempt to rush kicks.

"Especially in the A-gap they want to get a speed guy," said McQuaide.

"They think they can beat me off my snap, but I haven't had any trouble with guys like that.

"They usually put real fast guys over me. We work real hard on getting back into our block. We get our guards to stay close to us to help us out," McQuaide said.

McQuaide is competing with Pat Howe for the snapping position this spring, but Rogosheske says that he wants to have at least three snappers next fall. Freshman offensive lineman J.B. Shugarts is also a long snapper. If Shugarts can get into the mix the Buckeyes could go with two long snappers, one for punt and one for placements. The logical choice in that scenario would appear to be to use Shugarts on placements where blocking is at a premium and McQuaide on punts where he is probably better at covering kicks.

"I know that in the previous seasons Chucky Norman had snapped for both," said Rogosheske.

"We'll have to see how things play out."

Until then it's up to McQuaide and Howe. Rogosheske says so far he likes what he sees in that pair. There were no bad snaps in the kick scrimmage, though there was a blocked kick. Rogosheske said that the blocked kick in that event is not unusual.

"We had one today that was blocked but I haven't been involved in a kick scrimmage where there weren't multiple blocks. Today there was just one, so to me that was encouraging and hopefully that's a trend and it continues," he said.

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