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2013 Virginia Football Roster Profile: Matt Fortin

Day 45 comes, and that's another double-header. First up, long snapper Matt Fortin. Fortin was awarded a scholarship during this spring, and will play on scholarship for the next 2 seasons. He deserves the free ride, because he's been outstanding in his work and his durability, making every long snap for the team for the past 2 years.

Position: LS
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 185
Hometown: West Chester, Pa
High School: The Haverford School/Deerfield Academy
Year: RS Junior

College football teams do not often give out scholarships to long snappers. This is weird when you consider how important they are to a team's success. Every time you send the punt team or the FG team, the success of that play is reliant on the long snapper.

The Hoos, on the other hand, have had a long snapper on scholarship for much of the past 6 years, and have enjoyed the luxury of using only two long snappers over those years. This is due to having recruited two very good long snappers, each of whom was able to step right in and contribute from day one (or at least after a redshirt season). First was Danny Aiken, now plying the same trade for the New England Patriots. The other is the man of the hour, Matt Fortin.

Fortin has been working as a long snapper since the beginning of high school, and has been invited to numerous long snapping and kicking camps. He's been a staff member at the Rubio Long Snapper Camp and the Chris Sailer Kicking Camp. Fortin was also ranked one of the top 12 long snappers in the country as a HS senior.

Over the past two seasons, Fortin has made every single long snap for the Hoos. Fortin is small, which is less of an issue in college than it would be in the NFL. Still, his technique on both punt and FG snaps is so good that he's likely to find a job in the NFL as a LS.

Matt Fortin's has a cousin, Joel Nassib, who is a DB on the Syracuse team and another cousin, Ryan Nassib who is a QB for the New York Giants (also via Syracuse).