Tag: Clark Harris

Bengals don’t expect Clark Harris to return and compete with Cal Adomitis

Clark Harris might retire at 202 games, the fourth-most in team history.

Cincinnati Bengals special teams coorinator Darrin Simmons just sort of confirmed what most expected about a key component of his unit.

Speaking with reporters at the scouting combine, Simmons said that he doesn’t expect veteran long-snapper Clark Harris to come back and compete for the starting job, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com.

The Bengals re-signed Cal Adomitis on February 22, signaling the complete shift to the younger player who took over after Week 1 last season and started the remainder of the year.

Harris had previously said he didn’t want to end his career on an injury, but the Bengals have signaled it will at least be a competition if he ends up deciding to come back and compete as opposed to retiring.

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Bengals’ Clark Harris getting second opinion, won’t retire after injury

Clark Harris won’t let his career end like this.

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The Cincinnati Bengals showcased to the world just how important the long-snapper position is during Sunday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Longtime veteran Clark Harris went down with a biceps injury and that helped produce multiple critical special teams errors that wound up costing the Bengals the game.

Harris will seek out a second opinion on the injury, but from the sounds of it, the problem is a season-ending one. But the 38-year-old veteran made it clear on Monday that there is zero chance he will let his last play in the NFL be one where he suffered an injury.

Laurel Pfahler of the Dayton Daily News captured Harris’ comments:

If Harris gets the expected bad news this week, fans can expect to see him again next summer donning the Bengals stripes. But he’ll likely have to battle Cal Adomitis, the man taking over the job this year after getting called up from the practice squad.

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Commitment alert: Rutgers football lands five-star long snapper Jake Eldridge

Rutgers gets a five-star commit in long snapper Jake Eldridge

Rutgers football landed a commitment on Monday night from long snapper Jake Eldridge. The verbal from Eldridge is significant as he is a five-star prospect.

The IMG Academy product is ranked as one of the top long snappers in the nation. According to the Rubio Long Snapping rankings, he is the second-best long snapper in the nation and ranked a five-star.

Eldridge holds offers from Rutgers, UCLA, and Air Force.

 

Eldridge previously committed to UCLA as a walk on, but has switched his commitment to Rutgers after a good visit back in June. He liked the facilities and the people during his first ever visit to the Garden State.

“First off, everyone in the area seemed really nice and welcoming, which is good to see,” Eldridge said. “I’d never been to New Jersey before so I didn’t know what to expect. I really loved the town and the campus. It was not your usual campus with them having three campuses so I wasn’t sure how I was going to like that, but I loved it when I was there.“

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Fans know that it is not often that offers are made to long snappers, and the Texas native is well aware also. Head coach Greg Schiano’s emphasis on special teams over the years really stood out to the highly touted prospect.

“I picked them because they showed me the most love from Day One. Being a special teams player, I’ve seen that is the school that values special teams the most out of any, which is really important for me. I am very grateful for the opportunity they gave me, and for believing in me. I know there are not a lot of offers like that going out to snappers. For it to be at a school I am really happy with is exciting.“

There are currently two former Scarlet Knights in the NFL who are currently long snappers, although they played multiple positions while in Piscataway. Clark Harris (left in 2007) is snapping for the Cincinatti Bengals, while Andrew DePaola is playing for the Minnesota Vikings and has been in the league since 2014. 

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Bengals kicker Evan McPherson finally got slimed

Clark Harris, master of stealth, made it happen.

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Last season, Cincinnati Bengals kicker Evan McPherson was named the NVP of “NFL Slimetime” Week 21 by Nickelodeon but managed to avoid getting slimed.

As it turns out, those involved planned a little revenge for the popular kicker and looped in a teammate to make sure the sliming went down.

Donning a mask, Bengals long-snapper Clark Harris went stealth mode and hit McPherson with the sliming. It was a trap, to say the least, though the funny moment featured the kicker thinking first and foremost about his shoes.

The Bengals then shared a video of the whole setup, from stealth beginnings to the aftermath:

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Bengals’ Clark Harris happy to mentor UDFA Cal Adomitis

The veteran is more than happy to mentor the guy who could end up replacing him.

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NFL players being iffy on serving as a mentor for their possible replacement has been an interesting discussion as of late.

Not in Cincinnati Bengals land.

Clark Harris, the long-snapper heading into his 16th pro season and 13th on the NFL’s most games played list (201), says he has no issues being a mentor to undrafted free agent Cal Adomitis.

“I’m not going to be a (jerk) about it. Like ‘Figure it out yourself,'” Harris said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I’ve been here 16 years. If someone is going to be better than me … It’s not like it would be a waste of time and it was like ‘There’s no helping this guy.'”

That’s a great thing for the Bengals — Cal Adomitis was one of the team’s most-hyped undrafted free agents.

Harris says the most he’ll play is two more seasons. He also views Adomitis as a guy capable of replacing him. The only problem is whether other teams will let it happen — he’ll presumably land on the practice squad at best with Harris still around, so other teams could attempt to claim him if he isn’t protected.

Either way, Harris is yet another example of the leadership-based locker room culture the Bengals have worked hard to create.

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