Viewing the World Upside Down
11/2/2023 1:30:00 PM | Football
Collin Springer is the player you don’t want to hear about
STATESBORO - The life of a long snapper is a lonely one. Staring between your legs, viewing the world upside down, and then hurling a football back to your punter is a routine they've practiced thousands of times. It's become second nature to most. And like any good long snapper, Collin Springer doesn't want you to know who he is. If you hear his name on the broadcast, it's likely not for a good reason.
Springer got into football at a young age, like many boys, but moved to long snapper early in high school for one simple reason: he stopped growing.
"To be honest with you, I grew up playing offensive line at center and guard," Springer said. "We got into the later middle school and early high school, and everybody started getting bigger, and I didn't. I still wanted to contribute, and I found a place as a long snapper and started practicing it on my own. Eventually, I found some coaches, and camp circuits started going to them to improve my snapping."
Springer, who is listed at 5-11, 210 pounds, didn't garner a ton of offers coming out of Newberry High in South Carolina, but Wofford did give him a chance, so he headed an hour northwest for what turned out to be the next five years of his life. After redshirting in 2018, he played in 39 games for the Terriers and helped them win two SoCon titles.
"I really enjoyed my time at Wofford and made some great memories there," Springer said. "I think I needed the extra time to develop physically, and I had a great strength staff there that was able to help build me up physically. After I went into the NCAA Portal after finishing my fifth year at Wofford, one of my coaches asked me if I'd ever had an interest in Georgia Southern."
It turns out he knew plenty about the school in Statesboro as, in his sophomore year at Newberry High, he helped block for a quarterback named Shai Werts, who would go on to start four years behind center for the Eagles. Springer also attended camps at Southern while in high school and always enjoyed his time on campus.
"I told my coach that I was absolutely interested and told him to have them give me a call," Springer said. "I eventually got on the phone with Coach West and had a couple of very good conversations with him and then came down to campus, and here I am."
To many in Eagle Nation, they may not know who No. 94 is out there with the punt team, and Springer is okay with that. If you hear his name, it's not a good thing.
"I don't need to be a showy kind of person to feel good about my performance, and that's never been a big thing for me," Springer said. "Besides, you don't want to see me do a celebration dance anyway. So I go out there, and I do my job. I want to go under the radar and come back off the radar. My teammates and my specialists they're my biggest fans. They give me high fives on the sideline and then help coach me up during the game with in-game adjustments."
Springer has a unique family situation as he and his sister, Ansely-Brooke, are Division I college athletes. Ansely-Brooke is a junior on the Wofford rifle team and qualified for the Junior Olympics this past summer. Spending two years together at Wofford was something Collin cherished.
"That was really fun. Obviously, she's family, but she's also one of my best friends," Collin said. "It was it was really nice to have her there."
This Sunday, Wofford's rifle team travels to Statesboro to take on the seventh-ranked Eagles at the Shooting Sports Education Center. With the football team scheduled to get back into town from Texas around 3 a.m., it will be an early wake-up call for Springer to get to the match that starts at 8 a.m. But there's no doubt in his mind that he'll be there.
Don't blame Springer if he's not wearing the blue and white on Sunday.
"I may or may not be wearing a Wofford rifle shirt," he confessed.
Springer got into football at a young age, like many boys, but moved to long snapper early in high school for one simple reason: he stopped growing.
"To be honest with you, I grew up playing offensive line at center and guard," Springer said. "We got into the later middle school and early high school, and everybody started getting bigger, and I didn't. I still wanted to contribute, and I found a place as a long snapper and started practicing it on my own. Eventually, I found some coaches, and camp circuits started going to them to improve my snapping."
Springer, who is listed at 5-11, 210 pounds, didn't garner a ton of offers coming out of Newberry High in South Carolina, but Wofford did give him a chance, so he headed an hour northwest for what turned out to be the next five years of his life. After redshirting in 2018, he played in 39 games for the Terriers and helped them win two SoCon titles.
"I really enjoyed my time at Wofford and made some great memories there," Springer said. "I think I needed the extra time to develop physically, and I had a great strength staff there that was able to help build me up physically. After I went into the NCAA Portal after finishing my fifth year at Wofford, one of my coaches asked me if I'd ever had an interest in Georgia Southern."
It turns out he knew plenty about the school in Statesboro as, in his sophomore year at Newberry High, he helped block for a quarterback named Shai Werts, who would go on to start four years behind center for the Eagles. Springer also attended camps at Southern while in high school and always enjoyed his time on campus.
"I told my coach that I was absolutely interested and told him to have them give me a call," Springer said. "I eventually got on the phone with Coach West and had a couple of very good conversations with him and then came down to campus, and here I am."
To many in Eagle Nation, they may not know who No. 94 is out there with the punt team, and Springer is okay with that. If you hear his name, it's not a good thing.
"I don't need to be a showy kind of person to feel good about my performance, and that's never been a big thing for me," Springer said. "Besides, you don't want to see me do a celebration dance anyway. So I go out there, and I do my job. I want to go under the radar and come back off the radar. My teammates and my specialists they're my biggest fans. They give me high fives on the sideline and then help coach me up during the game with in-game adjustments."
Springer has a unique family situation as he and his sister, Ansely-Brooke, are Division I college athletes. Ansely-Brooke is a junior on the Wofford rifle team and qualified for the Junior Olympics this past summer. Spending two years together at Wofford was something Collin cherished.
"That was really fun. Obviously, she's family, but she's also one of my best friends," Collin said. "It was it was really nice to have her there."
This Sunday, Wofford's rifle team travels to Statesboro to take on the seventh-ranked Eagles at the Shooting Sports Education Center. With the football team scheduled to get back into town from Texas around 3 a.m., it will be an early wake-up call for Springer to get to the match that starts at 8 a.m. But there's no doubt in his mind that he'll be there.
Don't blame Springer if he's not wearing the blue and white on Sunday.
"I may or may not be wearing a Wofford rifle shirt," he confessed.
Players Mentioned
LS
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