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01/04/2017 11:00 PMWhen Carson Tebbetts was a freshman football player at North Haven, he and his father Clay toyed with the idea of him becoming a long snapper, a specialized position that involves snapping the ball several yards on field goals, extra points, and punts. It turned out to be a great decision that not only gave Carson an early chance to see the field with the Indians, but also opened the door for him to continue long snapping in college.
“I checked out a camp to learn more about it because it’s a good opportunity to get on the field,” says Carson, who recently completed his football career with North Haven. “My sophomore year I got varsity time as the long snapper on extra points and then my junior and senior year I also did punts. I’m also going to long snap in college for Stony Brook.”
Carson says his work as a long snapper made colleges notice him and it didn’t take long for Carson to commit to Stony Brook University, a school in New York that competes at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision level.
“At the beginning of my junior year, I started talking to schools and made a highlight tape, which picked up some traction,” Carson says. “Recently, I verbally committed and, hopefully, I’ll start fairly soon when I go there. They liked how I long snapped and how fast the ball went. It’s a good opportunity for me.”
Carson says that long snapping is “an art” and the specialized nature of the position kept him motivated to hone his craft through the past few years. In fact, Carson has become so accurate that he says he can hit a receiver on a post pattern via the long snap.
Indians’ Head Coach Anthony Sagnella says that he’ll miss Carson and how adeptly he handled his unique duties in the kicking game.
“It’s a headache every year when you have to start looking for people that can perform special tasks, particularly in the kicking game. Long snapping to me is one of the keys because only one good thing can usually come out of a punt. You’ve been stopped, so you have to turn the ball over and you want to get that ball kicked and covered as quickly as possible, and the long snapper is where that begins,” Sagnella says. “It’s been a blessing to have him the past three years and he’s a kid that came in already doing it, which is rare. You don’t usually have that luxury. Sometimes you come in with a kid that’s kicked a field goal or two, but a kid to come in with all the mechanics down and to come in and be as proficient as anybody we’ve had, that’s pretty good for the program.”
When he wasn’t long snapping, Carson started at center and on the defensive line as a senior. Carson also competes for North Haven’s indoor and outdoor track teams and will captain both squads this year. Last winter, Carson took first place in the shot put at the SCC Novice Meet.
Carson bounced around the offensive line when he played for the Indians’ JV squad, but took control of the center position in the recent season. Carson and his fellow linemen helped paved the way for North Haven to have another productive year on the ground that featured 2,663 rushing yards and 32 touchdowns.
“It says a lot. People overlook the O-line sometimes. They only look at people with the stats, but our O-line had a really good year,” Carson says. “We had to replace a senior line from last year, so we were all inexperienced and had to come in and show our character. We took on challenges like playing Division I teams like Cheshire, Hand, and West Haven, who had some big guys, but we did a good job handling them.”
As much as he loves long snapping, Carson also values that he got to line up as a center this year. Carson says the experience increased his overall knowledge of football and feels that can only help him as he gets ready to play at the next level.
“What I liked about it was I got to start the play with the ball in my hand. There was also a lot of attention to detail as I was in charge of calling out which way we’d slide,” says Carson. “When you’re playing line, you think of just blocking, but at center, you know where the ball is going and it gives you a sense of which plays to run and it gave me a better understanding of the game.”