In a sense, P.J. Mangieri hopes this is the last time you read his name in the newspaper.
“I’d like people to know about me,” Mangieri said. “But at the same time, if I get known, that’s usually a bad thing.”
Usually.
Long snappers fly under the radar until you see one of their snaps fly over the head of the punter.
That’s why Nebraska coaches scoured the country looking for somebody you won’t ever hear about. They researched kicking camps and kicking clinics, studied film and researched some more.
Mangieri, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound true freshman from Peoria, Ill., emerged from a list of about 12 long- snapper candidates. He agreed to walk on, and two games into his Nebraska career, he’ll play against Virginia Tech, a school that prides itself on game-changing special-teams plays.
“I usually do better under pressure,” Mangieri said, “as weird as that sounds, being a true freshman and everything.”
So Nebraska goes from T.J. to P.J., from O’Leary to Mangieri.
“He’s been tremendously important,” said Nebraska assistant coach John Papuchis, who helps oversee special teams.
Papuchis said the coaching staff will usually recruit specialists the way they did Mangieri.
“The way we handle all of our specialists — other than Adi (Kunalic), who was here before we were here — all of our specialists come in on a walk-on basis,” Papuchis said. “If they earn a starting role down the line, there’s a possibility that they can earn a scholarship, but that’s no guarantee, either.”
Mangieri, of course, plays just one part on special teams. All units know they must be technically sound and alert in facing “Beamerball” on Saturday.
The Hokies already have returned a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown this season. In last year’s 35-30 victory in Lincoln, they blocked a punt for a safety and started three of their first four drives at the NU 49-yard line, and the VT 44 twice — all thanks to big returns.
“What they do, they do really well,” said Papuchis, a 2001 Virginia Tech graduate. “I don’t know if ‘special’ is the word. Because it’s not a gimmicky scheme or anything like that, but they’re very, very fundamentally sound.
“They do a very good job of getting on blocks and maintaining their blocks, and their return guys are really good.”
Through two games, Nebraska has been sound in covering kicks and punts. The Huskers are allowing 16.3 yards on kickoff returns, after allowing 23.9 last season. Opponents’ average field position following 15 NU kickoffs is the 19.
Opponents’ punt returns have decreased from 9.4 yards per return last season to 6 yards this season.
“The big difference from last year,” Papuchis said, “is the guys understand what we’re asking them to do, and they’re putting in a lot of hard work in the meeting room and on the field to make sure that when it’s game day, we execute well.”
For Mangieri, executing under pressure is what he enjoys.
“Really, I’m not too nervous about the game,” he said. “I’m usually not nervous about any games.”
