Special teams is full of unsung heroes.
The longsnappers do their job and get off the field, the less publicity the better. The kickers are praised when they get it through the uprights and hated when they don’t. No one likes to see punters take the field, unless you’re a fan of the opposing team.
It’s time we recognize the hard work of one of the hardest positions on the field.
Games are won and lost on field goals and extra points.
Whether it’s an extra point to send it to overtime, or a 53-yard field goal to win it all, the kicking unit is the unrecognized backbone of a football team.
It takes three to make a ball go through the uprights: a longsnapper, a holder and a kicker.
Long snapper Thomas Fletcher was the highest ranked long snapper according to Rubio Long Snappingย in the 2017 recruiting class and is currently a finalist for the 2020 Mannelly award for the nation’s best collegiate long snapper.
Kicker Will Reichard was the highest ranked kicker in the 2019 recruiting class. He is 69/69 on kicks for the 2020 season and is currently a finalist for the Lou Groza award for the nation’s best collegiate place kicker.
However, the third member of this squad was unranked, unrecognized, and wasn’t even recruited as a holder.
Holding stats? Good luck finding them.
In a position often forgotten about, Alabama holder Mac Jones has dedicated lots of training to make sure his position is put on the map.
Alabama football put together a short video of his workouts and testimonials from coaches and fellow teammates that details how hard he has worked at his craft.
It’s not everyday you get a holder this dedicated to the skill. So Mac, this is long overdue.
๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ.
๐๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ.
๐๐น๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ป ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ณ๐. pic.twitter.com/aAE33wvO3F— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) December 10, 2020