A football roster is complicated, full of several specialized roles that all come together to make one complete team.

Some roles, like the starting quarterback, can be well highlighted and talked about endlessly throughout the season. Other positions, like the long snapper, still carry an immense amount of value but go entirely under the radar, until a mistake is made.

Austin Phillips is there to make sure no mistakes are made by the Sachse Mustangs. Along with playing receiver for the Sachse Mustangs, Phillips is the team’s starting long snapper for field goals and punts. He’s one of the best in the area at it and is set to enroll at UTSA next fall to be a collegiate long snapper and specialize in the role.

Getting to that point took hours of work, and it will take even more work for him to get a chance to start in college and perhaps make the NFL in the future.

“It really started heading into my junior year, I told the coaches I just wanted to get on the field,” Phillips said. “Our special teams’ coordinator knew I had the athletic frame to do it but told me to work at it. I went to a camp and finished second at the camp, so I decided to pursue it.”

Over a year later, Phillips ranks 24th nationally in Rubio’s Long Snapping recruiting rankings. His weekends are spent traveling to Prosper every Sunday to work with Chris Shaw, a former special teamer himself who teaches young kickers and snappers the position and how to prepare for the next level.

“Austin possesses the want and desires to be great at anything he does,” Shaw said. “It’s another key reason he will succeed the minute he walks onto the field at UTSA.”

Training every weekend, Phillips practices his body positioning and stance to provide a good snap for a field goal and a punt. Along with his stance, Phillips is evaluated on ball speed and height on their snaps, along with keeping his spiral and accuracy on his snaps. He’ll practice for an hour and a half every weekend just snapping to perfect his process.

“Will split time between short extra point snaps, punt snaps and how to position for each situation,” Phillips said. “For a field goal, I like to stand a little lower because the snap has to be low. Then for a punt, it’s about standing tall and launching the ball back because it’s a longer snap.”

At the college and professional football levels, long snapping is a specialized position because of the importance it carries to the success of a football team. You need a player who’s trained to be the best in the world at the position, and who will consistently set your special teams up for success.

“Technique is really important,” Phillips said. “Every split-second matter, and you have to know what you’re doing when you go and snap. People think you just go back there and chuck it between your legs and that’s not the case.”

If you watch the NFL, the Cincinnati Bengals had a crisis on their hands in week one when their starting long snapper went down with an injury. A specialized position in the league, there was no backup option, and the Bengals were forced to go to their third-string tight end to fill in for the rest of the game. The results were catastrophic.

“It goes to show how difficult it actually is,” Phillips said. “Not everybody can go in and just do it. It takes a lot of practice.”

The Bengals missed two field goals to end that game, because of two snaps that threw off the timing of the kicks. Phillips said he got multiple texts about being in that game and he felt like he could’ve gone in and saved the Bengals from the upset loss. His goal is to continue to play this game he loves for as long as he can, however possible.

“It’s a position where if their names are never called it means they’re doing their job,” Shaw said. “They’re the start to each special team’s play. They need to have good speed and height on their snaps and then it’s up to the holder to catch and place the ball. You must be as detailed and dialed in as possible.”

Stories like that can be seen all across the state of Texas on Friday nights, with many teams trying to employ position players who also spend time long snapping. The errors and results from that risk result in turnovers, missed field goals, or even missed punt snaps that can flip the script of a game in a hurry.

“I consult with coaches and tell them that special teams should be a priority in practice,” Shaw said. “It’s the third phase of a football game for a reason.”

Fortunately for the Sachse Mustangs, they have a player who has put in the work to be productive. You’ll never hear about Phillips’ long-snapping success in the game, but that’s intended to be the case.

For the full story, see the Oct. 13 issue of The Sachse News.