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University of Minnesota Athletics
The Unsung Heroes
10/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
If you ask any holder or long snapper across the country they would prefer nobody knows their name.
"It is important not to be known as a long snapper because if they know your name that probably means you shanked a snap or did something bad," sophomore long snapper Payton Jordahl said.
Freshman holder Jacob Herbers echoed those thoughts.
"Whenever my name is mentioned it is usually in a bad sense so staying under the radar is a good thing," he said.
That was not the case recently however. This week head coach Tracy Claeys gave Herbers a shoutout on his Facebook Live show, during the weekly press conference and on his weekly radio show.
"Coach Claeys has given me a little publicity here recently and you know I appreciate it but I am very surprised because my job is just to go out there and hold," Herbers said.
While Herbers puts it modestly, Claeys sees the importance in the position.
"You know, Herbie is the one that gets a little bit left out of all that," Claeys said during his press conference when asked about the kicking success so far this season. "Here's a redshirt freshman doing the holding. That's probably tougher than the kicker's job, making sure the snap is down and all that."
The trio of Jordahl, Herbers and sophomore kicker Emmit Carpenter have combined for a perfect 9-9 on field goals and 16-16 on point-after attempts so far this season.
Carpenter was honored by the Big Ten this past week after drilling four field goals against Penn State. The kicks came in high pressure situations. His second field goal of the game was a 35-yarder and came with one second left in the first half. He then drilled a 37-yard attempt with 54 seconds remaining in the game and hit a career long 46-yarder in overtime.
Each time he was provided with a perfect snap and a perfect hold.
"It is just really repetition and muscle memory," Jordahl said. "Even during practice when we are not in the PAT period we are rapid firing snaps and practicing different situations. We put pressure on ourselves, simulating timeouts and different things like that."
Carpenter reaps the accolades and continues to put himself into the Gopher record books. Does that make Jordahl and Herbers unsung heroes? Maybe-but they would never tell you that.
"I would never think of hero in the job description. It is just another part of my job," Jordahl said.
"If I do my job correctly I give Emmit a better chance to do his job," Herbers said.
There is one award that Herbers has set his eyes on though. He was mentored by the Holder of the Year Peter Mortell after all.
"Anytime you shadow the Holder of the Year you are going to have a good season after that," Jordahl said.
Mortell recently tweeted that he is going to be putting out his watch list for this year's Holder of the Year Award.
Mortell Holder of the Year watch list coming soon 🏈👈🏻
- Peter Mortell (@PMortell1) October 3, 2016
Despite his success so far this season Herbers doesn't expect to be put on it.
"He would probably do that to motivate him to be a better holder," Jordahl explained. "It is a suspenseful time. You never know what Pete is going to crank out on Twitter."
"It is a big award," Herbers said. "I am really looking forward to him putting out that watch list so I can see who else is on it and maybe study a little form."
Just another way Mortell's legacy continues to live on. While he was at Minnesota the Gopher Specialists Twitter handle @MinnSpecialists flourished. This year the group has continued to strike social media gold.
So what is their next big idea?Haters are gonna say it's fake. pic.twitter.com/8mwBlODJsQ
- Gopher Specialists (@MinnSpecialists) June 15, 2016
"We work as a group on that and that is between us," Jordahl said. "Once we crank out the material the people see it and react to it. We have more fun doing it then our followers probably have seeing it. We do it just to lighten the mood. We try and do a good job of being uplifting and positive."
