Livin' la vida longsnapper

[Brad]

Daniel's career has been a snap thus far

TAMPA

Athletes who have different perspectives on life always are appealing.

Take Justin Daniel, for instance.

For the last four autumns, the former all-state offensive lineman for the Charlotte Tarpons has viewed the University of South Florida football program through his legs as the team's long snapper on placements and punts.

I like a guy with an upside-down view of the world, but Daniel's view of a game is about the only thing abnormal about him, unless you consider he went to college and got closer to his family.

Usually, it's the other way around.

Daniel shares an off-campus apartment with junior sister Kirstin, a video technician with the football team, and freshman brother Brandin, a DH-first baseman on the baseball team.

Parents Nanci and Myron have been frequent visitors this year since Hurricane Charley destroyed the family home in Punta Gorda on Aug. 13. Next fall, sister Falin will join the mix when she comes to USF to compete in basketball and volleyball.

"It's been awesome playing here within an hour and a half of home," Daniels said. "I wouldn't change a thing. It's been a blast playing with (former Charlotte teammates) Javan (Camon) and Bruce (Gipson) for four years."

They were all in the house (Raymond James Stadium) as the Bulls tried to remain bowl eligible on Saturday. Unfortunately, Conference USA rival Memphis, bound for the GMAC Bowl, scored a 31-15 victory behind 263 rushing yards by DeAngelo Williams.

The loss dropped the Bulls to 4-6, thus eliminating any chance that Daniel would end his career with a bowl trip. Mom's kiss on the cheek and hand slaps from Falin, Brendin and Dad would have to suffice for Daniel, whose college career will end next Saturday morning here against USF's future Big East rival Pittsburgh.

Daniel hopes it's not the last football game he plays. Next fall, he hopes he's employed somewhere in the National Football League, where the talent of snapping a ball through your legs successfully can earn you a pretty good living.

Just ask Jeff Robinson of the Cowboys, who inked a 4-year, $4.8 million contract that included an $850,000 signing bonus. The minimum salary in the NFL is $230,000 and it grows to $760,000 for veterans of 10 years or more.

It's good work if you can get it, but you have to be good at your craft, which Daniel certainly is. By his count, he's made three bad snaps in four years. For us, that seems good.

"When you're a long snapper," the perfectionist Daniel said, "you shouldn't make any."

In the NFL, stuff like that gets you fired. All Daniel has to do is ask the guy he replaced at South Florida. Ryan Benjamin left USF and found employment with the Buccaneers, who won a Super Bowl with him as their long snapper.

Last season, the 6-foot-1, 242-pound Benjamin was determined to be a weak link. When Carolina bulled its way up the middle to block three kicks in a 12-9 victory over the Bucs in Week Two, Benjamin's tenure became tenuous at best. This season, reserve tight end Dave Moore handles the snaps, and Benjamin is unemployed.

"I need to work on my foot speed, I need to tone my body and I need to get better with my accuracy," he admitted.

Life is never easy, though Justin Daniel's snaps sure look that way.

Story Link

[Omniscientbull]

Moore had a lousy high snap on the 3rd missed FG.  I was the only person in the resturant cheering on that play.  I loved it.  The Bucs shouldn't have let Benjamin go.

[The_Reaper]

That's why Gramatica is crap this year. The snaps are all over the place and it screws his timing. Bad move by the Bucs in getting rid of Benjamin

[E.T.]

They can always get him back ...

Go BULLS !!!

[MikeG]

The truth is that the weak link was Cozey Coleman who failed to pinch down correctly on his center during those snaps.

Special teams kicking requires four elements in my opinion:

Line blocking

long snapping

proper placement

and the kick itself.

The snapping and blocking elements have been shakey at best this year for the Bucs. The Bucs let go the only thing that was giving them a solid play on that unit and as a result, Gramatica is suffering-- perhaps to the point of losing his job as well. All so Mr. Genius Gruden can save a roster spot for some butthead like Tim Brown who can't even be bothered to dive for the football in a hail mary situation (in fact, he threw his arms backward).

Oh well-- the Bucs deserved what they are getting in those terms and there are many other stories about what they are doing wrong day after day.

[The Sheriff]

Mike G... were you reading about our defense failing to pinch down on Williams and posted that? I've never seen the phrase pinch down on our message board until the newspaper quote... and now... two days running it gets used again. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone!