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Some people consider punters and kickers to be the most forgotten players on a football team. I think that perhaps the long snapper may be even more of an afterthought than the kickers. Unless he sends the ball soaring over the head of the punter or holder nobody pays much mind to the snapper.
Heck, there is not even a national award for long snapping. Yet.
In the same way, a punter with a 40 yard average could go completely unnoticed in a game.
So it's interesting the UB has the perfect combination of long snapper and punter. Tyler and Corbin Grassman are cousins who came to UB in 2012 (Tyler) and 2013 (Corbin).
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Tyler played quarterback, safety, wide receiver, punter, and kicker his senior season at Gahanna Lincoln High School in Columbus, Ohio. During his senior season he was the Ohio Capital Conference Player of the Year and First-Team All District. Despite setting school passing records he got most of his interest as a kicker. ESPN ranked him the 33rd best kicking prospect in the country.
During his freshman year he was already doing a fine job but he's gotten better every year. Last season Grassman was name Academic All-MAC and a MAC Distinguished Scholar Athlete, finishing the season with an average punt of 40.7 yards. More impressively, on his 50 punts UB opponents only gained only 32 total return yards.
The year after Tyler came to UB his cousin Corbin came from Johnstown-Monroe High School in Alexandria, Ohio. As a linebacker he led the team with 136 tackles (18 for loss) in his senior season after breaking the school record with 156 tackles as a junior. He was a first team All-State honoree.
Immediately he was instilled as UB's long snapper and through two-plus seasons he has started every game at that position.
The two have been so in sync that this long snapper punter combination have drawn national attention.
Before this season started Tyler was named to the Ray Guy Watch List. The Ray Guy Award is presented annually to college football's top punter by the Augusta Sports Council and is named after punter Ray Guy, a former All-American at Southern Mississippi, all-pro player for the Oakland Raiders, and now-Hall of Famer.
This summer some locker room fun and showing off by the cousins led to the "Long Snapper Wars". It started with Corbin knocking a Gatorade bottle off of Tyler's head and proceeded to nailing a garbage can from the upper deck of UB stadium. Other snappers followed suit but Corbin Grassman did it first and better then the followers.
The "Grass-Men" have nine more games to play before Tyler graduates and Corbin will go into his senior year. Until then the Bulls special teams can continue to benefit from a perfect snapper to punter combination. Already Tyler has one conference player of the week award, perhaps there will be some more this season.