It’s not often you see a story about a long snapper, and it’s even more rare to find one who has as complex of a routine as Mark Langston. For some, this may be the first time hearing his name, but to others, he’s the long snapper for the Indiana Hoosiers.
Langston is a Redshirt Senior+ from Savannah Georgia who started his collegiate career at Kennesaw State in 2019. Redshirting his initial season and not seeing any game action the following year, Langston transferred to Georgia Southern in 2021 where he started all 12 games at long snapper. Langston started 10 games in the consecutive season before tearing his ACL and missing the final two games and the rest of the 2023 season. He wasn’t born with the knack to snap the ball though; he had years and years of practice before he became the Hoosiers’ long snapper in 2024.
“In high school I was heavy defense, I played a little bit in high school. I just went off to the side and started snapping through a field goal post and I eventually got really good at it and had an opportunity to play at Kennesaw State and just took off from there. I had a really good guy ahead of me who took me under his wing and really taught me everything. Along with another guy [Josh Harris] who used to snap for the Falcons who is with the Chargers now [who] molded me into what I am,” Mark Langston replied when asked about how he became a long snapper during Tuesday’s interview with the media.
In high school, it’s mostly common that a football team will have position coaches, but it’s rare for them to have a designated person that’s there to help a player improve at long snapping. So, Langston had to take matters into his own hands. In Tuesday’s availability with the media, he said that he used YouTube as a way to learn early on. “Just trying to mimic, watch and repeat and keep practicing and practicing,” Langston said, “That's all it is. Reps on reps on reps.”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, long snappers are the unsung heroes of the team. Without a good long snapper, extra points, field goals, and punts can get messed up if snapped improperly. There are also different styles to factor in plus blocking once you’ve snapped the ball. Which is why Langston takes a lot of pride in his position and being a leader. He tries to practice every day that he can and has followed a pretty confusing routine for the past few years to help with his improvement.
“As far as how many reps I do, I'm kind of like a data nerd, so I'll like record all my reps since 2022, when I tore my ACL 50 was my number, and I ran a regression on Excel and [set] my P value for how many reps I took, and the amount of reps was like the least impactful coefficient. So, like I said, having that approach per each rep is what I'm focused on. Like, when I trained in San Diego with Thomas Fletcher, he would snap a ball, then go take his helmet off and walk around and then run back on the field, put his helmet on and snap a couple more balls. But I try to stay around 50 so I can snap every day and come back fresh every day,” stated Langston in briefly describing his routine.
Langston takes his position very seriously and will do anything he can if it helps the team. He’s a team player and as long as he continues to practice his snaps and stay consistent, the Hoosiers’ special team shouldn’t be faced with many problems during the season.
