Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1511150
1 8 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Baseball was Tyler Duzansky's fa- vorite sport when he was in elementary and middle school, and he knew that he wanted to play it in college. Those plans started to change, how- ever, when he began long snapping as a junior at St. Francis Prep in Wheaton, Ill. After the COVID-19 pandemic struck at the end of his junior year, his options be- gan to narrow. Recruiting travel was out, and gone too were the summer baseball showcases that would have helped him further his career on the diamond. Before long, Duzansky realized that if he was going to have an athletic career at the Division I level, it would most likely have to be as a football player — specifi- cally as a long snapper. Like so many 2021 recruits, he took to Twitter to get the word out about his tal- ents via video clips. His videos attracted the attention of Penn State's coaching staff, and the Nittany Lions welcomed Duzansky as an invited walk-on in 2021. The older brother of Oregon long snapper Nick Duzansky, Tyler has been starting for the Nittany Lions this season as a redshirt sophomore now that prede- cessor Chris Stoll is playing for the Se- attle Seahawks. Duzansky recently took the time to talk with reporters about his role on the Lions' special teams. QUESTION: How did you end up at Penn State? DUZANSKY: "I took to Twitter for recruiting, reaching out to coaches, sending out film, stuff like that. I was able to get in contact with the coaches here going into my senior year. They of- fered me a spot. You can't really turn down Penn State. Ever since I got here, I've loved all the coaches. I've definitely made the right decision. "The reason I came here, No. 1, obvi- ously, is to play at the next level. Penn State has been able to produce specialists for the NFL in recent years, like Chris Stoll and [Baltimore Ravens punter] Jor- dan Stout, who I played with here and would consider both mentors to me. Then also, how the coaches treat players. It's not like this everywhere. I would say that's another plus that Penn State gives to recruits and players." QUESTION: What's the most im- portant piece of advice that you got from guys like Chris Stoll and Jordan Stout? DUZANSKY: "One thing that they didn't really tell me but I realized from watching them is that they're always poised and relaxed in practice and in the game. I think that's valuable, because as a specialist, you don't get to play as many plays as the other positions. You're going out there every couple of minutes, so being able to stay poised and keeping a positive attitude is some- thing that they did really well. "And then with snapping specifically, Chris Stoll has helped me a lot with little technique things that only other snap- pers would realize. Just helping with accuracy and little things like that." QUESTION: How would you de- scribe special teams coordinator Stacy Collins as a person, and how has your relationship with him developed dur- ing the time that you've been working together? DUZANSKY: "He's a very person- able coach, very easy to get along with, and he's definitely a player's coach. Ev- erybody in our program likes him. He's always bringing great energy to the spe- cialist group specifically but also to the whole team. "Ever since I met him, which was probably a year and a half ago, maybe two years, we've connected pretty well from the start, so we've got a really good relationship. Anything I need from him, he's always there for me, so I feel really good having him here." QUESTION: Going back to your high school career, could you have imag- ined that you would be on this kind of a stage, playing college football? DUZANSKY: "I never thought I'd be here, because I thought I would be play- ing baseball. My freshman year in high school, there was no thought of playing football in college. But then as it went on, this was definitely the best oppor- tunity for me, and obviously I made the right choice." QUESTION: What were the biggest challenges for you transitioning from playing baseball to being a long snap- per? DUZANSKY: "I would say they're pretty similar. I played shortstop and catcher, and there are a lot of little de- tails that go into baseball that translate over to long snapping pretty well, be- cause long snapping is also a lot of little things. It wasn't an easy transition, but baseball is all about repetition and get- ting comfortable and confident. When you get up to the plate, you're not think- ing, I'm going to strike out here. You're thinking, I'm going to hit a home run here, I'm going to drive this baseball. "When you go into a snap, it's similar. You're not thinking, I'm going to mess this snap up. You're going in there with confidence thinking that you're going to have a perfect snap. The mindset part of it was very similar to baseball, so I was able to grasp it pretty easily. As far as the physical side, it's all about repeti- tion and consistency. That's something that I pride myself on — having a great work ethic. I was able to grind and build myself into a long snapper." Sitting Down With Redshirt Sophomore Long Snapper Tyler Duzansky Duzansky is in his first season as Penn State's starting long snapper after taking over for Chris Stoll, who is now in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. PHOTO BY GREG PICKEL