Countdown to Virginia Football: #42 Tyler Shirley

Position: LS
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 225Year: RS Junior
Hometown: Midlothian, VA
Twitter: @Hoo42_

Writing a profile for a long snapper isn’t exactly easy. Generally speaking, long snappers only get mentioned when they screw up. So the good ones aren’t going to show up much in google searches. And since they aren’t heavily recruited, they don’t show up on recruiting sites. And unlike Kickers, there aren’t sites dedicated to long snapping.

Shirley has been the Hoos’ primary long snapper for 2 full years now. He’s snapped for every punt and placekick during those two years. And yet most fans probably don’t know that. This is to Shirley’s credit. In his 2 years, Shirley hasn’t had one single bad snap. The Hoos had 1 punt blocked last year, and 4 punts blocked in 2014. They haven’t had a FG blocked during Shirley’s tenure. Shirley also has 1 tackle on a punt return.

Here’s Shirley’s recruiting video. Yes, there are apparently recruiting videos for long snappers. The first 2 minutes are just him snapping the ball for punts or FGs. Not particularly interesting. After that, there are shots of him at WR.

Not only did Shirley play WR, but he also played baseball. He’s certainly a good enough athlete. Could he ever play anything other than LS for the Hoos? Likely not. For one thing, the coaching staff wants him focusing on his snapping. For another thing, he’s not nearly fast enough to play WR, which is the only position he has any experience playing.