Nebraska Pro Day 2019

Ulty said:

If I recall, Riley's staff specifcally recruited Ober for his exceptional long snapping skill and offered a rare scholarship for this position. But then last year he lost the job, because Frost's staff did not think he was getting the snaps to the holder fast enough. Combine that fact with his small size, and it is probably safe to say Ober is not getting a sniff at the NFL. I hope he had a good college experience, got his degree, and has a successful life beyond football.

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I’m going to go out on the limb and say it’s extremely unlikely you’ll ever see Frost offer a scholly to incoming long snapper or punter.

gobiggergoredder said:

I’m going to go out on the limb and say it’s extremely unlikely you’ll ever see Frost offer a scholly to incoming long snapper or punter.

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https://www.omaha.com/huskers/football/recruiting/huskers-give-north-carolina-punter-ben-kiernan-his-first-scholarship/article_96609a50-6cfd-5a3a-b8f3-7bca08360087.html

Maybe it wasn't commitable since he didn't come here, but I think it was. Totally agree on long snapper, but I see no evidence that Frost won't offer scholarships to specialists.

Husker in WI said:

I know the Giant's snapper (deOssie) was a LB at Brown, he actually got drafted. But I think he was drafted as an LB and happened to be good enough as a snapper to hang on - not sure what the norm is. Nice to have another LB on your coverage team though, he can hit.

I think it was Ober wasn't getting down the field fast enough to contribute to the punt coverage, his snaps were fine. But you're right he's undersized, and speed will still be a problem in the NFL. I just don't ever see NFL snappers making tackles or contributing to the kick coverage, so I wonder if they only care about snap speed/accuracy where Ober might be good. There are snappers listed at 235, so depending on whether he's put on weight that could be fine - they can't hit snappers anymore anyway, he doesn't have to block.

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The NFL's biggest issue with incoming long snappers from college is that very few of them CAN block. Although they can not be directly lined up against, they very much need to know how to block. Plus, you have to be the absolute best long snapper any given year to find a job, as only 2-3 come open at any one time. Ober (according to Frost, at least) wasn't even the best long snapper on his team.

https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2018/4/19/17173142/long-snappers-nfl-college-football

The challenge for NFL teams is finding snappers who know how to block. In the last few years, almost all college teams have transitioned to a spread punting scheme. They scatter their blockers and coverage men horizontally, which usually means there’s not a rusher for the long snapper to block. The snapper, then, gets a free release downfield:

The spread punt is less common in the NFL, where blockers keep closer splits and funnel rushers more toward the middle. Most professional snappers have to put their heads up and block someone almost as soon as they’ve released the ball. Rushers can’t line up directly over the snapper’s head, but they still run right at them: