Post by Guvmintcheeze on Sept 27, 2014 17:44:27 GMT
Saturday special: Josh Harris
On Saturdays throughout the regular season, we will highlight a key member of the Atlanta Falcons' special teams. This week, it’s long snapper Josh Harris.
Georgia native Josh Harris has found his niche with his home state team.
The former undrafted free agent and walk-on at Auburn has established himself as the Atlanta Falcons' long snapper. Harris, now in his third season, has perfected his craft so much that the team recently rewarded him with a contract extension through 2018 worth a max of $3.5 million.
"Obviously, it’s exciting," Harris said of the extension. "But at the end of the day, I have to approach each and every day like it’s my first day and just continue to work to get better. It means a lot to me and my family. You just have to go back to work and do your job."
Harris enjoyed the moment even more when retired long snapper Patrick Mannelly, an Atlanta native and long-time player for the Chicago Bears, reached out via Twitter to congratulate him.
"Pat was a guy who did it for a very long time at a very high level," Harris said. "He’s obviously a guy in the snapping business who knew how to get it done. So he’s obviously a guy, as a snapper, who you look up to."
So how much work actually goes into long-snapping?
"I get here in the morning, work out, go to meetings like everybody else," Harris said. "I watch film, study the other team with what they do on field goals, punt returns, and try to pick up tendencies. I’m just preparing myself any way I can for the game on Sunday."
Harris snaps between 100 and 200 balls on Wednesdays, when the Falcons do both punts and field goals as a team.
"Thursday is a little down from that but still, I practice the craft every day," Harris said. "Just have to make sure that I’m ready for the game on Sundays.
"Everybody on this team has a job to do, and my job is to deliver a snap to the punter and the holder and to essentially make their jobs as easy as possible. The way I look at it, the more I practice, the better you’re going to get at anything you do. Just muscle memory and just going out there and being able to relax and focus on your job, that’s really what I focus on."
Harris also spends time giving pointers to backup snappers Joe Hawley and Jake Matthews.
"Sometimes they'll ask myself and Keith (Armstrong) about better ways to do it," Harris said. "Yeah, I'm more than happy to help them out."
Falcons coach Mike Smith would be the first to say Harris does his job rather well.
"We think he has the skill set that you’re looking for in a long snapper," Smith said. "What you want out of a long-snapper is you really don’t want to know his name. When he’s doing his job, everything is going well.
"He’s got very good velocity on the ball. He’s big enough (6-foot-1, 224 pounds) to block. And he’s athletic enough to run down the field. And that’s a really good combination for a long-snapper."
On Saturdays throughout the regular season, we will highlight a key member of the Atlanta Falcons' special teams. This week, it’s long snapper Josh Harris.
Georgia native Josh Harris has found his niche with his home state team.
The former undrafted free agent and walk-on at Auburn has established himself as the Atlanta Falcons' long snapper. Harris, now in his third season, has perfected his craft so much that the team recently rewarded him with a contract extension through 2018 worth a max of $3.5 million.
"Obviously, it’s exciting," Harris said of the extension. "But at the end of the day, I have to approach each and every day like it’s my first day and just continue to work to get better. It means a lot to me and my family. You just have to go back to work and do your job."
Harris enjoyed the moment even more when retired long snapper Patrick Mannelly, an Atlanta native and long-time player for the Chicago Bears, reached out via Twitter to congratulate him.
"Pat was a guy who did it for a very long time at a very high level," Harris said. "He’s obviously a guy in the snapping business who knew how to get it done. So he’s obviously a guy, as a snapper, who you look up to."
So how much work actually goes into long-snapping?
"I get here in the morning, work out, go to meetings like everybody else," Harris said. "I watch film, study the other team with what they do on field goals, punt returns, and try to pick up tendencies. I’m just preparing myself any way I can for the game on Sunday."
Harris snaps between 100 and 200 balls on Wednesdays, when the Falcons do both punts and field goals as a team.
"Thursday is a little down from that but still, I practice the craft every day," Harris said. "Just have to make sure that I’m ready for the game on Sundays.
"Everybody on this team has a job to do, and my job is to deliver a snap to the punter and the holder and to essentially make their jobs as easy as possible. The way I look at it, the more I practice, the better you’re going to get at anything you do. Just muscle memory and just going out there and being able to relax and focus on your job, that’s really what I focus on."
Harris also spends time giving pointers to backup snappers Joe Hawley and Jake Matthews.
"Sometimes they'll ask myself and Keith (Armstrong) about better ways to do it," Harris said. "Yeah, I'm more than happy to help them out."
Falcons coach Mike Smith would be the first to say Harris does his job rather well.
"We think he has the skill set that you’re looking for in a long snapper," Smith said. "What you want out of a long-snapper is you really don’t want to know his name. When he’s doing his job, everything is going well.
"He’s got very good velocity on the ball. He’s big enough (6-foot-1, 224 pounds) to block. And he’s athletic enough to run down the field. And that’s a really good combination for a long-snapper."
