Thursday, April 24, 2014

Jareth Glanda, #54

Jareth Glanda
HIGH SCHOOL
Glanda attended Bloomfield Hills (MI) Brother Rice and was All-Catholic League in football as a senior, but perhaps more impressively for an eventual 6'3", 256-pounder, he was an all-state hockey goalie as a senior at Brother Rice.

COLLEGE
Glanda walked on to the program under Rich Rodriguez but redshirted that first year. (If you're wondering whether he bulked up significantly after being a swimmer and hockey player in high school, he was listed at 265 lbs. his freshman year.) As a redshirt freshman in 2010, Glanda saw action in one game while he sat behind starting snapper Tom Pomarico. When Brady Hoke arrived in 2011, he made Glanda the short snapper (for field goals and extra points) while Pomarico held onto the long snapper job (punts). Glanda's moment in the sun came in the Sugar Bowl at the end of the 2011 season when a fake field goal pass by Drew Dileo was deflected and fell into the hands of Glanda, who was tackled after an 11-yard gain. Coming back to Earth, Glanda spent 2012 and 2013 as the team's long and short snapper, handling all the snapping duties with Pomarico having graduated.

CAREER STATISTICS
3 tackles
1 reception for 11 yards

AWARDS
Academic All-Big Ten in 2011 and 2012

SUMMARY
Glanda made a highlight reel catch in the Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech, but the best thing I can say about Glanda is that I don't remember a single errant snap during his four years on the field. Long snappers are guys you rarely notice unless they screw up, and they might get their names called a couple times a season when they make tackles on punt coverage. With Michigan losing Glanda and holder Drew Dileo in the same off-season, it will be strange and perhaps a bit unnerving to watch their replacements in 2014 and beyond.

I WILL REMEMBER HIM FOR . . . 
. . . that one extra point snap against Illinois in 2012. Remember? Yeah, me either. It's the catch against Virginia Tech, obviously.

PROJECTION
Long snappers can make a living in the NFL, but it's somewhat of a crapshoot who makes it. I'm sure pro talent evaluators have some things they look for, but they're very much under the radar. I can't imagine anyone having a much better portfolio than Glanda has, but we'll have to see. I don't believe a long snapper has ever been drafted solely to snap (although occasionally snappers double as backup tight ends or linebackers), so if Glanda catches on at the next level, it will have to be as a free agent.


3 comments:

  1. Looked as if we could have gotten a holding call in the backfield on that fake punt attempt.

    But its not holding unless its called I guess.

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  2. seniors Dileo-Glanda-Gibbons were quite a team. Hopely the new guys can quickly bond and make kicks happen.

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  3. FYI, the Browns drafted a long snapper (under Butch Davis) in the 7th round several years back - Ryan Pontbriand. Davis took a little heat for it at the time, but he argued that most 7th rounders don't make the team and the snapper was a sure-fire contributor.

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