Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1539550
1 8 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Tyler Duzansky might not play one of the more high-profile po- sitions at Penn State, but the red- shirt senior long snapper views himself as a source of veteran leadership for the Nittany Lions. When he arrived at PSU in 2021 as a walk-on from Whea- ton, Ill., Duzansky had a plan for how he was going to develop that aspect of his game. Playing behind Chris Stoll, who won the Patrick Mannelly Award in 2022 and is now with the Seattle Sea- hawks, Duzansky first wanted to set a good example in hope of earning the respect of his new teammates. Only then did he look to exert a more vocal form of leadership. "As the years go on, once you get into Year 3, you try to be more of a vocal leader," he explained. "That's where I needed to step up. I feel like the past couple years, I was able to improve on that every year. I feel like I'm in a really good spot right now where I'm leading by example and then being the vocal guy as well." Duzansky is in the midst of his third season as Penn State's starting long snapper. He won All-Big Ten hon- ors last year (third team, media; honor- able mention, coaches). In August, he was named to the preseason watch list for this year's Mannelly Award, one of 30 snappers to be recognized. Named a team captain this year, Du- zansky recently talked to Penn State beat reporters about how he prepares for games and how he got started as a snapper, among other topics. QUESTION: How do you lead from the long snapper position? DUZANSKY: "It's kind of hard, be- cause whenever someone makes a kick, people think, oh, the kicker did a great job. I'm just trying to make the job as easy as possible for the holder, kicker, punter. If nobody knows who I am, that means I did my job. I'm just trying to give them the perfect snap every time, and that's my goal." QUESTION: You've got everyone back on special teams this year. How much smoother does that make the whole kicking operation? DUZANSKY: "Everything with the specialist position is based on cama- raderie — being able to trust the other guys. When you have returning players, especially at those positions, it's expo- nentially more important. So getting another year with the same people is a huge benefit compared to when there's a new guy coming in." QUESTION: What is your approach in practice? How do you prepare for game situations? DUZANSKY: "There's obviously some snapping, but there's also some coverage stuff, tackling, and then blocking and getting off the block and getting into coverage. "I try to treat practice like a game. In a game, I'll have maybe one snap every 10 minutes, so during practice I'm trying to simulate that. I'll jog on from the sideline and try to simulate a game in practice, and do one snap maybe every 10 minutes, whether that be punt or field goal. "We always finish practice with a punt or a game-winning field goal, and that's obviously led by Coach [James] Franklin. The whole team is surrounding the punt or field goal operation, so that's how we get our pressure kicks in. Everybody is scream- ing, squirting water everywhere. That's a good time for the spe- cialists to be able to lock in and actually focus like it may be a game. You build your confidence there. If you can do it in practice with [defensive tackle] Zane Du- rant squirting water everywhere or Franklin blowing an air horn in your ear, then once you go into Beaver Stadium, it's nothing." QUESTION: How did you get into long snapping when you were in high school? DUZANSKY: "I played de- fensive end and tight end in high school. Going into my junior year, that was a position that was opening up because it had been a senior doing it the year before. I was thinking, let me jump in there, see what I can do. I'm definitely glad I did that. I'm really happy that everything worked out." QUESTION: Your younger brother Nick is a long snapper for Oregon. How did you both end up getting into snap- ping? DUZANSKY: "Once I started, he kind of took the lead and did it behind me. … We played with each other in high school, and now the opportunity to play against him will be awesome. "We didn't really snap [until high school]. My dad made me go to a long snapping camp, and it ended up work- ing out really well. We both worked our tails off in high school to get noticed and pick up a spot." Sitting Down With Redshirt Senior Long Snapper Tyler Duzansky After backing up Chris Stoll for two seasons, Duzansky has been a starting specialist for the Nittany Lions since 2023. PHOTO BY RYAN SNYDER