Chad Bushley Filling Role as Flashes' Long Snapper
11/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Dave Carducci, Akron Game Program Story
Long and short snappers always suffer under the same unfortunate case of anonymity.
Nobody knows their names until they launch a football over the head of a punter or spoil a field-goal attempt by rolling one back to the kicker.
Fortunately for redshirt freshman Chad Bushley, most Kent State fans have yet to learn his name.
Bushley is far from anonymous to his coaches and teammates, however. They know exactly how important his emergence has been to their 8-1 start to the 2012 season.
Nothing can muck up the works for a championship contender than uncertainty on special teams. And while Kent State head coach Darrell Hazell liked the potential of his team back in early August, he knew he had one major hole to fill in the kicking game.
The graduation of Ryan Hidalgo and Alex Thomasson had left the Golden Flashes without a single player who had snapped the football on a punt or a field goal during a college game.
"It was a huge fear for us," Hazell admitted. "It's such an underrated position. Guys who can do it well are often under appreciated. But I appreciate them very much."
Bushley quietly won the job with an impressive preseason camp, and since appearing in his first college game on Aug. 30, the former member of St. Edwards' 2010 undefeated state championship team has granted Hazell and Kent State's specialists some much needed peace of mind.
The first snap of Bushley's career may have been a little high. But since then, he has been spot on.
"Chad has been excellent," said Hazell. "He is doing an unbelievable job and has been very consistent. There is such a skill set to long-snapping. Not many people can do it, and especially not as well as he can."
Hazell can appreciate the job Bushley is doing in part because he has done it himself, "back in little league," the coach remembered. "It's not too hard when you are on the field all by yourself. But when you are in a game and have someone breathing down your neck? There is nothing easy about that."
Bushley played basketball, baseball and football in youth leagues while growing up in the Cleveland suburbs. He started learning the trade that would take him to the Division I level in football during grade school at St. Thomas More in Brooklyn. The team's best long-snapper also just happened to be its best punter. That created an obvious conflict.
"It's hard to pick up at first," said Bushley. "Snapping is more than just arms and throwing the ball between your body. You have to use your hips. And there's a mental part to it, too. If you have a bad snap, you have to move on to the next one, just like when a quarterback throws an interception."
When Bushley nearly fired the ball over the head of fellow freshman Anthony Melchiori on the first college play for both players, he was shaken for just a moment. Fifth-year senior Trip Ison was the first person to meet Bushley on the sidelines. Ison had competed to take over the snapping duties in August, but has since settled into a role that is part player, part coach and part psychologist.
"He showed me the ropes, how to get used to the college game and the speed of the college game," said Bushley. "After that high snap in the Towson game, he immediately said get it out of your head. He said it was first-snap jitters. He really keeps me sane."
With perfect snap after perfect snap since that awkward debut, Bushley has earned the all-important trust of Melchiori and senior place-kicker Freddy Cortez.
"You have to have that trust in our jobs," said Cortez, who is Kent State's all-time leading scorer. "I had that with Alex Thomasson in my first three years here. He was awesome at snapping. Quick and very accurate, and such a great guy, too. So, not only did we come into this year trying to replace a highly talented snapper, but a great guy who had a great relationship with the rest of the specialists. It's asimportant to find a guy who meshes with the rest of us as it is to find a guy who can do the job."
Bushley easily fit in with a position group that may be the most tightly knit of any on the entire Kent State team.
"It just works with all of us," said Melchiori. "We all hang out all of the time, on the field and off of it. There isn't a position between the wide receivers, the running backs, the cornerbacks, the defensive line, or any other that is as close as we are."
Cortez knew Bushley would fit right in based on the work ethic the freshman displayed during the off-season.
"Whenever I would call him in the summer, no matter what time it was, he'd come out and snap for me," said Cortez. "That's the kind of dedication and commitment it takes to get better. I knew even if he wasn't good then, he would work and work to keep getting better."
