Hello: Scott Sypniewski Comment Count

Ace



Via the Rubio Long Snapping Flickr

In a commitment that caught pretty much everyone off guard, Ottawa (IL) long snapper Scott Sypniewki has committed to Michigan on a full scholarship, as first announced by long-snapping guru Chris Rubio and confirmed by multiple outlets. Sypniewski is the 21st commit in the class of 2013 and (surprise!) the first long snapper. A bit more info on his commitment comes via Scout's Allen Trieu ($):

"They said they need one. They just lost their starter, Tom Pomarico. They have one guy who is going to be a senior and they were going to bring in two walk-ons. They've seen my film and knew I was good enough to start there and that's why they offered me a scholarship."

No further explanation is necessary, I'm sure.

GURU RATINGS

Scout Rivals ESPN 247 Sports
NR LS NR LS NR LS NR LS

Sypniewski, unsurprisingly, is not rated by any of the recruiting services. Chris Rubio Long Snapping, however, specializes in this sort of thing, and they've got him as the #2 long snapper in the 2013 class (Taybor Pepper was 6th) and a five-star prospect. Sypniewski is listed at 6'1", 230.

The above link comprises almost all of the available scouting information on Sypniewski that a 15-minutes Google-stalk could turn up. It is, shall we say, laudatory:

Sypniewski is a man on a mission. Body is looking thick and muscular. He is moving well and snapping rockets. Attitude on this kid is amazing. Tell him to do something and consider it done. He has a good time but is full of rage when he is snapping. Love it. Ball is smooth, on target and crisp. He gets set and BOOM! the ball is in your hands. Very impressed with him and he is a no brainer scholarship kid!



Sypniewski is just flat out fantastic! Ball is like a missle yet very easy to catch. Movement is flawless and he is snapping with ease. Looks like he is not even trying but, before you blink, the ball is right on your hip. Accuracy, consistency and speed are all excellent. A tad lighter on his feet could bump him up and I am being picky. Sypniewski is terrific and is snapping with a TON of confidence. I am fully expecting him to stick his chest out and dominate in Vegas.  4/12

There's also this, er, juicy tidbit [emphasis mine]:

Excellent job by Sypniewski. Body is becoming athletic and thick. Huge legs and butt. Great for a Long Snapper. Ball, when he snaps the ball HARD, is absolutely fantastic. Blocks extremely well for his age when he gets back. Tremendous personality. Does a great job of improving every single time. Great worker and will be a great teammate to those around him.

Recruiting!

The Wolverine's Andy Reid caught up with Rubio—who's been coaching Sypniewski since 2009—shortly after his commitment for additional insight ($):

Rubio said Sypniewski's strengths are his size and strength in the blocking game and, most importantly, the speed and fluidity of his snaps.



"He's fantastic," Rubio said. "His snap is just so smooth, but it's still a such a rapid movement. You almost think there's no way it could be coming this quick, because it's still so smooth. It's just boom, hits you."



"I would like to see him work on his footwork, continuing to get downfield after the snap. But, in all honesty, he really doesn't need much right now to make the step up to the next level."

Sounds like he could be an early contributor, as current snapper/folk hero Jareth Glanda will be a redshirt senior when Sypniewski gets on campus. I won't really attempt to add anything else to the scouting of a long snapper, especially since—as you'll see below—there's an astounding amount of film on the kid. He's got a 15-yard snap time of .69 seconds, [Ed-S: This is 44 miles per hour. Four FAKES out of FIVE!] which I imagine is very good but have zero context for saying so.

UPDATE: There are a couple of other long-snapper rankings out there, and it appears there are large disparities between the respective lists—if I had to guess, these rankings vary wildly depending on whose camps these prospects attend. Sypniewski comes in at #14 on Kohl's Professional Camps snapper rankings, and indeed, you must attend one of their camps to be included. Here's their writeup:

Scott has a solid frame with very good mechanics. His overall SS and LS accuracy is good and he is consistent with his snap speed. Scott finished with an average snap time of .74 seconds at the Midwest Showcase Camp in December of 2011 with his best snap time recorded at .70 seconds. Scott has good footwork and a quick ball release which allows him to get back into protection quickly. He has great lower body explosiveness with good ball rotation. Scott will be a good fit for any protection scheme.

Prokicker.com, meanwhile, doesn't have Sypniewski in their top 25 for the class of 2013, though if his reported snap times are close to accurate, he's should probably be in the top couple spots.

[H/T to mgouser goblueritzy92 for dropping those links in the comments.]

OFFERS

Sypniewski's Scout profile, which probably was created 15 minutes ago, lists no other suitors besides Michigan.

STATS

Um, stats?

FAKE 40 TIME

None listed, unfortunately. All of the FAKEs.

VIDEO

Yes, we've got highlights:

Oh, and it doesn't end there. For 15(!) more videos of Sypniewski snapping, click here.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

When Sypniewski arrives on campus, Michigan will have Glanda as a redshirt senior at long snapper as well as 2012 preferred walk-on Tyler Tokarsky. Tokarsky, for what it's worth, says his plans to attend Michigan have not changed despite the news of Sypniewski's commitment. Sypniewski and Tokarsky should battle for the starting job in 2014, then hopefully we'll never hear from either again barring any improbable catches on fake field goals.

If you remember, Michigan did have a second preferred walk-on snapper lined up for the class of 2012, Taybor Pepper, but he chose to attend Michigan State when Mark Dantonio offered him a scholarship.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

The Wolverines now sit at 21 commitments in a class that should reach 23-24, though one has to wonder if there's any concerns about extra attrition given the offer to a position normally filled by walk-ons or players who change positions. Michigan will likely still take a wide receiver—there's still a spot reserved for Laquon Treadwell, at least—and they could also add a cornerback, running back, or strongside defensive end.

Comments

ChiCityWolverine

June 6th, 2012 at 5:54 PM ^

Not sure why walk-ons won't be enough to hold up long-snapper, especially with the type of players we may have to pass on because of it. Regardless, congrats to this kid, I hope to never hear about him again.

MrVociferous

June 6th, 2012 at 6:03 PM ^

We just cut down available scholarships quite a bit to take a long snapper.  This definitely makes passing up elite players more of a possibility.  Unless you want us to go all Les Miles/Nick Saban and start booting people off the team.

the Glove

June 6th, 2012 at 5:54 PM ^

I'm going to assume that are prediction of how many spots coach Hoke is going to take is off. I do not see him turning down the elite players that we are waiting for.

RDMB2003

June 6th, 2012 at 5:57 PM ^

 

I don't understand the offer but I'm certainly not in a position to question Hoke on recruiting strategy or available scholarship usage.  I believe in his short time as Head Coach, Hoke has earned the right to do as he sees fit when it comes to building our football program.  

DonAZ

June 6th, 2012 at 7:04 PM ^

+100 ... how many cycles of doubt have to be heaped on Hoke before some realize the guy knows what he's doing?  When he was announced as HC there were doubts whether he could recruit the state of Michigan, let alone the midwest or nationally.  He proved those doubts unfounded.

Oh ... and long snapping?  Boring and automatic ... until one is muffed with the punter backed up in the endzone.

No way this was some epic screw-up by Hoke.  There's reason behind this.  We just don't know what that is yet.

MrVociferous

June 6th, 2012 at 6:01 PM ^

Good thing we snapped this guy up 8 months before signing day.  I hear the long-snapper market in recruiting was just about to heat up....

bing24

June 6th, 2012 at 6:01 PM ^

Kendal Fuller 5*...No thx...Leon McQuay 5*...No thx...Derrick Green 5*...No thx...Snappy Snapperton 1/8* - Come on down!

This is definitely a WTF moment for me. Yes, I get it teams need long snappers, but come on. I'm taking this is instant karma for just riding my good friend who's a sparty for stealing our walk-on long snapper & giving him a scholarship:(

M-Wolverine

June 6th, 2012 at 8:24 PM ^

Their offers have been revoked. And it hurts, because they were all coming too!

And this got upvoted to 5. Classy reaction, U-M fan base. At least no one offered a bounty to take him out and save the scholarship for Ace's rankings, but this isn't a much better welcome.

michgoblue

June 6th, 2012 at 8:36 PM ^

You do realize that we still have room in our class for all of the guys that you mentioned? And, assuming some attrition (which there always is), treadwell too.



This is a good move. If this kid is as good as his coach thinks, it is a huge asset. We have a seen the effect of bad special teams. Delivering the ball .5 second earlier and in the perfect spot can make the difference between a rushed kick that either goes out of bounds or is returned for yards and a booming, field position changing punt. If this results in 1-2 kicks per game being better than they would have otherwise been (i.e. Two instances of better field position or the avoidance of a return) I am totally fine with this move.

bing24

June 7th, 2012 at 11:21 AM ^

It's called sarcasm. And I'm not going to apologize because I don't follow everything the coaching staff does like a little puppy just because I'm a fan. They have done a great job recruiting, but this still boggles my mind. A long snapper being a HUGE asset? That is a bit of an overstatement I would say. I saw somewhere they might play 13 plays at most & this is a position that is routinely handled by walk-ons without any hiccups. If this kid is such a beast & obviously jumped on this offer within 3 seconds of receiving it...Why not wait until later in the recruiting cycle when actual IMPACT players situations have played out & then offering him?? Pretty sure if he were walking on or offered by a lesser B10 program (or any program for that matter) he would still jump on a UM offer.

The kid sounds like he's very good at what he does. Doesn't mean I have to be thrilled about it & can't joke that this is about as exciting as watching the Pistons play. Dude is a long snapper, pretty sure he wasn't expecting an ESPN CFB Live special to show his long snapping delivery technique & times. He's probably smiling ear to ear that he's a long snapper & just got a full ride to The University of Michigan fer god sakes no matter what people are saying --- I'd be walking around saying "I'm Scott Sypniewski biatch - Get on deez nutz."

End Transmission

Wolverman

June 6th, 2012 at 6:02 PM ^

 Everyone just lost the "Who will commit 21 be" poll

lol but it's cool Welcome to the team Snappy

Scott

June 6th, 2012 at 6:02 PM ^

Did anyone read the post? He snaps with rage! RAGE!

Scott S is writing down names of everyone complaining about this. He's going to pick you out in the stadium, and he's going to snap that ball right through your chest. 

I for one, welcome our new long-snapping overlord.

Sparkle Motion

June 6th, 2012 at 6:08 PM ^

for all those big butted boys out there whose Dads will now be forcing them to practice long snapping five hours a day.  

Always trust a big butt and a snap..

BiSB

June 6th, 2012 at 6:16 PM ^

Players whose offers and/or commitments were questioned (often vociferously) on this board include David Dawson, Gareon Conley, and Ondre Pipkins. Sione Houma's commitment just about broke the internet.

I'm not saying I fully understand this any more than any of you.  But remember: the coaches know more about these things generally, and they know much more about the big recruiting picture for this year. Patience may be in order.

Jack Daniels

June 6th, 2012 at 6:34 PM ^

However, Dawson was a 4 star at a position of great need and had a pretty decent offer list. We had been hearing about Pipkins for a while before he committed, and he also was a 4-star on a couple sites IIRC before he truly "blew up". Conley was a four star to Scout when he committed. I am not saying that it is a wasted scholarship, as I think the coaching staff has certainly proved they can evaluate talent, but the cases you listed were just slightly different from this one, considering the position Sypniewski plays.



I still think that there will be a couple of surprises regarding attrition, as is almost always the case. The people saying we have no spots left for a McQuay/Fuller type don't really have any good insight into what may happen in the future.

Callahan

June 7th, 2012 at 7:04 AM ^

Don't forget the shitstorm when Shawn Conway committed. Then when he was ineligible and our receiver depth dropped to nil, people start inquiring whether he can qualify from whatever hole in the wall JC he's at.

Gorgeous Borges

June 7th, 2012 at 2:27 PM ^

When did anyone hate on Ondre Pipkins? I think that the board was generally receptive to the idea of a defensive tackle rated 4* everywhere except ESPN, particularly because at that time we were in dire need of them.

tdcarl

June 6th, 2012 at 6:17 PM ^

If he had been the 3rd or so commit of this class I doubt anyone would have their panties in a bunch as much as they do right now. Every spot is used just the same.

After what Hoke and company did last year I'm just going to trust their judgements. I'm sure they've all forgotten more about recruiting than I'll ever know.

white_pony_rocks

June 6th, 2012 at 6:19 PM ^

look at it this way, it's all about parity.  after the top 2-3 teams there is a lot of parity in college football right now, so its even more imperative that you excel in every aspect of the game to have the definitive edge over the other team......you know what, i have no effing clue as to why we did this

French West Indian

June 7th, 2012 at 10:38 AM ^

...for the reassuring Kate Upton posts because after reading about this kid's "big butt & thighs" and then stuff like this:

"He's fantastic," Rubio said. "His snap is just so smooth, but it's still a such a rapid movement. You almost think there's no way it could be coming this quick, because it's still so smooth. It's just boom, hits you."

...I was almost certain that Mgoblog was about to come prancing out of the closet.

kmedved

June 6th, 2012 at 6:23 PM ^

But honestly, not super different from using a scholarship on a fullback. It means we might finish 3rd in the Rivals rankings rather than 1st, but scorekeeping aside, it's not a big deal.

You can afford to use 1/85th the roster on a bit of a redundancy.

AZBlue

June 6th, 2012 at 8:39 PM ^

on most sites are capped to the top 20 (?) players in a class so this shouldn't affect our overall position.  I am surprised that nobody among the recruiting gurus seemed to have inside info that this was a 2013 need.

I say welcome to team 134!  The kid looks good wearing Maize and Blue out on our field in the photo.

Decatur Jack

June 6th, 2012 at 6:28 PM ^

With every day that passes and Laquon Treadwell doesn't commit, I get more and more worried.

How sure are we that he'll even commit to M at all!? THERE ARE ALMOST NO SPOTS LEFT!!

BlueinTC

June 6th, 2012 at 6:28 PM ^

I know nuthing!!! 

Leave it up to the coaches to pick the young men they think they need and will represent the University of Michigan.