In recent years football has gradually become dominated by shotgun offenses. Every play starts with the snap of the center and the quality of that snap can greatly affect the timing and success of the play called. It is important, therefore, for your centers to understand that they must snap first and block second. It is also important for us as coaches to drill them in the proper fundamentals of the shotgun snap so that they retain the muscle memory to snap the same way every play so that a good snap becomes second nature to the center.

When teaching the shotgun snap it is always important to start with the stance. I urge you to make sure that your centers are comfortable in their stance regardless of whether it is orthodox or not. If your center is not comfortable in his stance he will not be able to snap the ball and maneuver into his block properly. The position is hard enough to play having to snap the ball and block a defender directly over the top of you (who is usually bigger faster and stronger) with one arm between your legs. Make sure your centers are comfortable.

We start with a stance that is slightly wider than shoulder width. If the stance is too narrow, the center will have problems snapping and stepping because he will be off balance. Once the feet are set, we move on to addressing the ball. We teach our guys to hold the ball just like a quarterback with the pinky and ring finger of the snapping hand on the last two seams of the football. Once the player has a proper hold of the ball he should then rotate his hand down so that his wrist is flexed. This will help the ball to spiral properly back to the quarterback with a good wrist flick. The center should make sure that his eyes are up in his stance and his back is close to flat. With our smaller more athletic centers, we teach them to put their off hand on the ground in a four point stance if they are comfortable with it. This does a few things. This keeps their backs flat and butts up giving the quarterback a better exit angle if under, and keeps the center from lifting his butt in the air when he snaps. This is why most bad snaps go overhead. This stance also allows the center to keep his center of gravity low so that he can maintain vertical leverage on the defender he will be blocking. If your center happens to be a larger kid, like our Aztec Bowl Center last year, we teach them to get their off hand forearm in the crease beside their knee. This keeps it out of the way when snapping and allows for a quicker initial punch than if the hand were on the thigh board.

Now that the stance and grip are correct we must move on to the delivery of the snap. The terminology we have had the most success with is to tell the players to drag their knuckles, slam the elbow, and bring the pinky to their crack. By dragging the knuckles the players will keep their arm straight giving them more accuracy with their delivery. When the arm gets bent the ball starts to sail in all kinds of directions. The second point we emphasize is to get the elbow into the thigh. You should hear your new centers complain about getting a sore spot on the inner thigh of their snapping leg. That is very good because you want them to hit the same spot every time ensuring proper delivery and accuracy. The third point we emphasize is bringing the pinky to the crack. This helps the centers from flicking their wrist too soon which will cause the ball to go too high. We like to have our snaps at belt level. This flick also gives the ball the nice spiral we talked about earlier. When your guys get proficient at it they can actually deliver the ball with the laces in the quarterback’s throwing hand every time. That comes with practicing the speed of the delivery. Quarterbacks are better throwers than catchers so we don’t want the ball coming back at them too hard. A quick snap is ideal, but a snap that is too fast is hard to handle.

The final point to emphasize is to keep your centers hips low. Whether he is in a three or four point stance he must keep a good bend in his knees and hips. When centers get their hips moving up on the snap they get straight-legged and out of good power angles and they also will snap the ball high. Both of those things will result in a poor play. Hopefully a few of these tips will help your team have some fundamental success next season.

To Review-points to remember for the shotgun snap:

1. Comfortable stance with proper bend.
2. Grip and twist.
3. Drag the knuckles.
4. Slam the elbow.
5. Pinky to the crack.

Drew Spears is an Assistant Coach at Grove City College in Grove City, PA. He can be reached at DPSpears@gcc.edu.