Former Pack long snapper takes world stage for Team USA

After graduating from N.C. State in December, long snapper Scott Thompson spent the past few months training with long snapping guru Chris Rubio in Southern California. He heard from the New York Jets and Washington Redskins before the NFL draft, but the interest dried up. Thompson still needed a chance to prove himself to NFL teams.

That chance will come in the next two weeks when Team USA hosts the IFAF Senior World Championship in Canton, Ohio.

Thompson was attending a national long-snapping camp in Las Vegas in mid-May when he got a text from former Boise State and Colorado coach Dan Hawkins asking if he had interest in snapping for Team USA. Hawkins coaches the USA team.

The former Wolfpack player will serve as Team USA’s long snapper and backup linebacker as the team competes against six other nations. Australia, Brazil, France, Japan, Mexico and South Korea will travel to compete against the Americans, who will look to grab their third consecutive title.

Players began reporting to Akron University on June 28 for a 10-day training camp. Before that, Thompson worked out with a personal trainer and helped run long snapping camps for high schoolers with Rubio, who passed Thompson’s name along to Hawkins.

“He came highly recommended,” Hawkins said. “(The long snapper) is very important. Special teams, it’s the fastest way to win and the fastest way to lose.”

Emergency linebacker

The U.S. will open this year’s competition against Mexico on July 9 at 7 p.m., and the winner will move on to play Japan. If the last World Championship was any indication, the U.S. could face a tough challenge. In 2011, the Americans needed two overtimes to pull out a 23-20 win over Japan.

Thompson’s teammates, the majority of whom have never played together, must find a way to gel as a unit in a short period of time. Thompson, however, holds a bit of advantage as the team approaches the tournament.

“For snapping it’ll be fairly easy,” Thompson said. “You just have to put in the work to get that rhythm.”

Thompson said he doesn’t know how many reps to expect at linebacker; coaches told him he would only play at the spot only under extreme circumstances. Combine the physical nature of football with the demands of four games in 10 days, however, and that starts to seem like a distinct possibility.

“I’m just going out there planning to snap,” Thompson said, “and if I get to play linebacker for Team USA, that’s just crazy.”

Thompson hasn’t played much linebacker since he lined up for Trabuco Hills (California) in high school. He notched only a couple of tackles at N.C. State during his senior year.

Waiting and hoping

Thompson didn’t have many opportunities to practice his tackling skills while at N.C. State. Under the Wolfpack’s special team’s scheme, the long snapper doesn’t have any coverage responsibilities. On fourth down, Thompson snapped the ball and essentially stayed put.

Doug Shearer, the Wolfpack’s special teams quality control coach, said the staff didn’t want to risk one of the team’s major assets.

“You’re so good at that, let’s just keep you doing that,” Shearer remembers telling Thompson.

Shearer only spent a year coaching Thompson, but the former graduate assistant said the long snapper’s value can’t be understated. Whenever N.C. State schemed to rush another team’s shaky snapper, the Wolfpack’s coaches took solace from the fact that other teams couldn’t return the favor.

“(You) sleep a little easier at night when you have a guy doing it consistently,” Shearer said.

Thompson said he will have coverage responsibilities at the World Championships, but the tournament might be the last chance Thompson gets to line up on defense. If he finds a spot at the next level, his exclusive focus will be with the specialists.

Thompson’s agents will send film from the World Championships to try to generate interest, but breaking into the NFL as a specialist isn’t easy. For now, he’ll continue to wait and hope his performance at the World Championships earns him a call.

At some point, Thompson will talk with his agents and make a decision about the future, but for right now, he’s focused on those 10 days in Canton.

“It means a lot,” Thompson said. “Not many athletes get the honor to play for their country, let alone in the sport that they love.”

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Former Pack long snapper takes world stage for Team USA."