Published: Oct. 29, 2015
Playing a bigger role
Kewaskum senior does what he can
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
KEWASKUM — Senior Eric Doll doesn’t take his role on the
team lightly. Actually, there are three roles he has with the Kewaskum football
team.
He plays receiver on offense and middle linebacker on
defense.
But the one that is the most overlooked and, likely the most
important of the three, is his role as the long snapper on punts and field
goals.
“I worked on it over the offseason, made sure I kept up with
it,” Doll said. “I just want to help out the team the best I can.”
A long snapper is almost like an offensive lineman: Nobody
knows who you are until you mess up. With that in mind, outside of the
quarterback, it may be the most scrutinized position on the football field.
If you mess up, everybody is going to see it.
Doll has a desire to do it and that’s why Kewaskum coach
Jason Piittmann and his staff have Doll at long snapper.
It also takes more than just the ability to snap the ball
through the legs — it’s more technical than that.
“You have to have one hand (on the ball) and how you feel
comfortable with the ball,” Doll said. “The other (hand) has to be close where
he can snap with one hand and use the other hand for power. You also have to
have your legs into it to get the power.”
It’s a process he practices routinely throughout the week in
practice and on game day.
“He’s very diligent so he’s ready to go,” Piittmann said.
There is pressure, too, partly because of what happens when
a long snapper messes up: everybody sees it and the play rarely ends well.
But the other reason for the pressure is, maybe moreso than
the quarterback getting the snap out of the shotgun, timing is everything.
“It’s very technical, very specific when it comes to
technique,” Piittmann said. “You have to do everything the same.”
He compared a good long snapper to the difference between a
snap throw by a catcher in baseball to an infielder and outfielder.
“It makes all the difference in the world,” Piittmann said.
“He’s very good at being on target, he’s quick and it spirals.”
If the snap is bad on a punt or field goal, there isn’t much
of an opportunity to adjust. Because of that, bad things usually happen from a
bad snap.
“It has to be right on,” Piittmann said.
He wouldn’t say if it takes a different psyche for a player
to be a long snapper. However, he said it takes guts to play the position.
“A lot of kids are not willing to stick their neck out
because if you screw up, there’s a stadium full of people that know it,”
Piittmann said. “It’s easy to blame the long snapper.
“Eric is a courageous kid. He always has been. He’s willing
to stick his neck out.”
Whatever pressure there is, Doll doesn’t know it exists.
“I don’t really think of it as being pressure,” he said. “I
think of it as an important part, that I need to fulfill my duties. I’m doing
it for the team.
“If I don’t get that snap down, it could hurt the team.”
Figuring out who to block, while not being able to see them,
is also a challenge.
There isn’t much room for error, as was evident in a game
earlier this season when Doll didn’t have a good handle on the ball. On a
point-after attempt after a touchdown, the ball hit the ground as he snapped it
and rolled back to the holder, Kewaskum quarterback Michael Prochnow.
Thankfully, Prochnow picked up the ball and threw it into
the endzone for the twopoint conversion.
Even though it ended well, Doll was hard on himself.
“I get extremely motivated to play harder,” he said.
Outside of his long-snapping duties, Doll has done well this
season in his other roles when called upon.
He has 10 catches for 140 yards and two touchdowns, and has
made six tackles.
“It’s really exciting because I’m able to know a bunch of
positions so in case somebody gets hurt, I can go in that spot and fill in,”
Doll said.
Piittmann gave high praise when asked what Doll means to the
Indians’ football team.
“He has a wonderful attitude,” Piittmann said. “Very
hardworking kid. He’s about the team.
“He worries about his personal performance, but within the
scope of the team. He’ll come off and ask, ‘How was the snap?’” The long
snapper is an important position to Piittmann, whereas maybe not so much to
other coaches.
“We’ve been fortunate,” Piittmann said. “We’ve had a nice
string of long snappers over the years. It hasn’t been a weakness of ours where
with other times it’s pot luck what’s going to get back there.”
Is it easy?
“Once you get the technique down, it’s fairly easy,” Doll
said. “You just need to keep practicing.”
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