I unironically love long snappers. They have one of the toughest and pressure-packed jobs in sports. Ohio State has been blessed with some good ones in the past — guys like Jake McQuaide and Bryce Haynes. Let's get to know a little more about the next one.
Bryce Haynes was a standout long snapper for Ohio State over the past few years. Blessed with a quick release, Haynes routinely helped his punters and kickers get their work done ahead of the rush. He was also adept at getting downfield on punt coverage and either getting in on the tackle or helping down the ball deep in enemy territory.
But Haynes is out of eligibility, and now the Buckeye long snapper mantle falls to Liam McCullough. He’ll have the large responsibility of delivering quick, accurate snaps to the holder and punter (both likely to be Cameron Johnston again this season, barring injury), and he’ll need to get downfield in coverage, replacing the reliable efforts of Haynes. But just who is this Liam McCullough?
A member of the 2015 Ohio State recruiting class, McCullough came out of Worthington Kilbourne as the nation’s top-rated long snapper. While most schools don’t like to spend scholarships on long snappers, McCullough earned offers from Big Ten rivals Wisconsin and Michigan State in the middle of 2013, before Ohio State finally offered in early 2014. The Buckeyes had wanted McCullough as a preferred walk-on, but it became apparent that there was a lot of competition for his services.
"It was a bit of surprise," McCullough told 11W. "They had offered me as a preferred walk-on over the summer after camp, but I was very excited and surprised to pick up an offer today."
McCullough didn’t jump at the OSU offer right away. He took his time, considered all of his options and took multiple visits. He finally committed on June 10, 2014, on the day of a specialists camp at Ohio State. Vico did a nice job of chronicling McCullough’s recruitment in his outstanding Better Know a Buckeye series.
"As soon as I told coach Meyer (I was committing) he gave me a hug and went from recruiting mode to coaching mode," McCullough told 11W at the time of his commitment. "He and I are already meeting tomorrow during the last day of camp to get after it."
In July of 2014, McCullough was named to the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, one of the highest honors for a high school player.
A cerebral kid, McCullough has big plans for his time at Ohio State. While trying to fill Haynes’ considerable shoes as the team’s long snapper, Liam will be focusing on a grueling educational curriculum. He told Ohio State’s staff that his plan is to go to medical school. Always eager to take care of his players — even his long snappers — Urban Meyer not only set up a meeting between McCullough and the head of Ohio State’s Medical Center as well as Meyer’s own personal neurosurgeon.
Our Eric Seger spoke to the 6-foot-2, 210-pound McCullough in the summer of 2015 about the university investing in him as a person as well as a football player.
“Even the day I committed, the minute after I committed, my family and I, we sat down with Coach Meyer and we set out plans of stuff,” he told Eric. “We set goals, football goals and stuff, but I also got to sit and talk with Coach Meyer and Coach Coombs a little bit about what I wanted to do with school and stuff. They said 'OK, well we're going to do this, this, this, and this to get you where you want to go.'
“Before I had committed, I had talked to Coach Meyer that I wanted to do something in medicine and I wanted to do something in orthopedic surgery or neurosurgery. He actually set up a meeting with me with the head of the Ohio State Medical Center and with his personal neurosurgeon based out of Ohio State. I got to sit and talk with them for a few hours and that was awesome. So they definitely have a huge emphasis on education.”
The educational goals suggest a young man with both ambition and intellect. If he can fire accurate darts back to Johnston while under fire in game conditions, he should be able to face the pressure of a pre-med curriculum and, eventually, med school.
While he may develop into an even better deliverer of the ball than Haynes was, McCullough has his work cut out for him when it comes to matching his predecessor on downfield coverage. Haynes is one of the best in the country in recent years at delivering his long snaps and then beating everyone down the center of the field to force fair catches and killing the ball inside the 20 for his punter.
If McCullough can handle that part of his game, he’ll do just fine replacing Haynes in 2016.
