Grayslake North's Davis never tires of fulfilling long-snapping tradition

Often cloaked in anonymity, as well as a football jersey and helmet, a long snapper risks being the butt of jokes.

Listen to Grayslake North's Stefan Davis, who comes from a family of long snappers.

The best advice the senior ever received about long-snapping from his dad, Bill, who performed the often-underappreciated football skill for Winona State University?

"Use your butt," Davis said with a face straighter than the laces on a football. "You have to (jump back) and shoot it back using your whole body."

Snap correctly, as Drake Davis (Grayslake North Class of 2012) and Spencer Davis (Class of 2014) also did for the Knights, and you should be able to squat and fire a strike through your legs and through an automobile tire. That's how the three Davis boys learned.

When you're a Davis, "Have a catch with Dad" might not mean what you think it means. Put down the baseball glove and ball.

"Ever since we were in pee-wee football, he'd always take us out back and show us the proper way and technique," Davis, who's long-snapping and starting at linebacker for the second year in a row, said of his dad. "He'd make us stand out there snapping it back and forth for hours until we got it right."

And with a tire, the boys never tired.

"We always made games out of it," Davis said. "We had a tire in our backyard. First one to shoot it through wins."

Who won?

"Not me," Davis said with a laugh. "Usually it was my brothers or my dad. But it was always fun to be out there with them."

At 5 feet 8 and 170 pounds, Davis is proof that you don't have to be the size of a prototypical offensive tackle to be a successful long snapper. The keys, besides using your backside, he added, also include not "overcomplicating things" and keeping proper form.

No wonder Grayslake North punt and PAT attempts have been pretty uneventful for most of the Knights' 10 years as a varsity program.

The Davis brothers have provided Grayslake North with "Patrick Mannelly" stability and reliability at the long-snapper position.

"Six out of our 10 years we've had a Davis long-snapping," Knights coach Steve Wood said. "They've been taught how to do it from such a young age. They've got great technique. Spencer was pretty good size, but Stef's not real big and Drake wasn't real big.

"In six years, you can count on one hand the number of bad snaps we've had, whether it's been on PATs or punts. That's unheard of."

Last Saturday, the unheard of happened: The Knights had a bad snap. And bad timing to boot.

Leading host Normal Community West by 1 point late in the fourth quarter, the Knights were forced to punt on their side of the field. Davis snapped the ball ... and fired it off-target. The home team took over at the Grayslake North 10 and scored the winning touchdown with 11 seconds left. Grayslake North lost a heartbreaker, 59-54.

The long snapper left the field with a long face. But Wood understood the short and simple of it: When you give up 59 points, forgot about pinning the loss on the backside of the long snapper.

"It's like the closer in baseball," Wood said. "He doesn't give up the first 5 runs, but he gives up 1 run and you lose the game. It's the same way. I told Stef, 'If I had to have somebody snap 100 snaps for me, I would pick you in a heartbeat. That's how good I think you are.' It happens."

At practice Tuesday, Davis was focused on only Prairie Ridge, which hosts Grayslake North on Friday night.

"I think that's the only one that has ever not gone well," Davis, shaking his head, said of the errant snap against Normal West. "I've thought about it, but I'm over it."

A short memory. That's important for a long snapper, too.

jaguilar@dailyherald.com

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