It's a snap for ASU walk-on Ohmart

It is no exaggeration to state that Thomas Ohmart came in off the street to win one of the most important duties on Arizona State's football team.

The true freshman was not even a student in January, when he knocked on the office door of ASU assistant coach Dan Cozzetto and asked if the team could use a long snapper.

Cozzetto's affirmative answer has enabled Ohmart to continue a pursuit that began when he was a freshman in high school - mastering a football job that has become highly specialized and taking it as far as he can.

If all goes well, a scholarship, and hopefully a pro paycheck, will follow.

"It wasn't a gag. This was something I've wanted to do for a while," Ohmart said. "I was going to snap somewhere. I just didn't know where I was going to go.

"The way luck had it, there was an opening, and everything fell into place for me. I registered for classes and got on the weightlifting program."

In spring drills, the Scottsdale Horizon High School graduate beat out two other candidates. When the Sun Devils line up to kick or punt in their season-opening game against Northern Arizona on Saturday - his 20th birthday - Ohmart will rocket the ball back.

"He came out and did the job consistently," coach Dennis Erickson said. "Very seldom do you see a bad snap, maybe a little high or to the side. He's a guy I have a lot of confidence in, and long snapper is a position you have to have confidence in."

A 6-foot, 252-pound walk-on, Ohmart admits to being in the different world that long snappers are said to reside in.

He is just as likely to be found watching the Food Network as ESPN. Ohmart is an aspiring chef, who would save much of his NFL salary to attend culinary school and open a restaurant.

"I'm not your average football player," said Ohmart, who did not play last fall because he was rehabilitating from shoulder surgery.

Special-teams work takes up a small portion of a typical practice, so Ohmart and the ASU kickers spend much of the rest of the time joking on the sidelines or playing "punt golf" - a game where balls are booted toward various targets.

"He's won a few holes," ASU kicker-punter Thomas Weber said. "Tommy is a lot of fun. He'll crack you up."

As amused as Weber, who won the Lou Groza Award as the nation's top kicker last season, is by Ohmart's presence, he is more relieved. With Jason Perkins graduating after last season, Weber was concerned about a comparable successor.

"There were no sure candidates coming in," Weber said. "But Tommy showed up and has done the job."

At the college level, as in the NFL, long snapping has become a speciality. The degree of difficulty is high - generating power with the legs and hips and whipping the wrists for a tight spiral. A snapper does all of this blind, since he must be looking up to block.

"You have to have the target memorized," Ohmart said, "and it's not simply throwing the ball back. They want a specific speed or time to get it back there. It's all about the spiral and form. You follow through in one motion, keep your thumbs up and make sure you get it there."

For five years, Ohmart has honed his technique under the tutelage of Ben Bernard, a Phoenix-based snapping instructor. Several of Bernard's pupils have played DivisionI football, including ASU's last two snappers, Jason Burke and Perkins, along with Joe Maese, who played four-plus years in the NFL.

Ohmart is a special talent, Bernard said.

"He has a lot of power," Bernard said. "He can send it back so fast, it's almost a blur and impossible to catch. We had to slow him down. In the last six months, we've worked on getting it at the proper speed, and he has. He's also really improved his accuracy. I expect him to snap (at ASU) for four years."

This season, it is possible a game will be won or lost on a field-goal attempt by Weber. Although all eyes will be on the kicker, success will not be possible without a well-executed snap.

That is a somewhat overwhelming thought for Ohmart, but is a situation for which he has trained hard. It is, after all, his specialty.

"I try not to think about it," Ohmart said. "You just have to go out and do the snap. The fact that a game could come down to me is a realization I've had a lot lately. That's an even bigger thought than just being in college football."