TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com
FootballSaturday, October 5, 2018
4B

A

ndrew Robinson
remembers his debut
for the Michigan
football team. You
probably don’t.

In the penultimate game of the 2015
regular season at Penn State, starting
long snapper Scott Sypniewski
was sidelined with an injury. So
it was Robinson, then a redshirt
freshman, who quietly filled in and
executed — his first of just five career
appearances.
The fifth-year senior walk-on knows
recognition is hard to come by as a
backup, let alone as a long snapper,
perhaps the most anonymous
position in football.
Being seen was never his concern.
Praise and frustration are heaped
upon guys like Rashan Gary and Shea
Patterson. Their potential lies in
making the NFL — the NCAA being
a given. But Robinson, like so many
on the Wolverines’ roster, has an
unnoticeable career.
“I remember seeing a tweet and
someone said ‘Oh, Sypniewski’s been
banged up, they might get Andrew
Robinson a chance,’ ” he recalled.
“And someone tweeted, ‘Who is
Andrew Robinson? I’ve never heard
of him.’ And I was like, ‘Exactly.’
“You don’t want to be known.”
***
Andrew admits that long snapping
wasn’t his, nor frankly anyone’s,
first choice. But it was his ticket
to accomplishing what seemed
unimaginable — playing college

football. Choosing which school
to play for was a far-flung, second
objective.
At Athens High School in Troy,
Mich., Andrew played football and
lacrosse. His younger brother by
two years, Bradley, played the same
positions, and his father, Brad, was an
assistant coach for the football team.
“Bradley and Andrew always worked
their tail off in the weight room
for me, dedicated to the program,”
said Josh Heppner, the brothers’
high school coach. “They worked
hard, played offensive line, did some
things on defensive line for us, but
they found their niche with long
snapping.”
Starting in youth leagues, Andrew
played as an offensive lineman.
But his short stature — currently
at 6-feet and 218 pounds — was an
early indicator that he wouldn’t fit
the prototypical lineman build. None
of Michigan’s scholarship linemen
weigh under 300 pounds.
He also started long snapping in
eighth grade. His coach didn’t like
his form, but Andrew was the only
one who could snap the ball at least
13 yards. So he assumed the role, and
it stuck when Heppner needed a long
snapper.
During his sophomore year of high
school, rotating between offensive
lineman and long snapper, collegiate
aspirations weren’t gaining traction.
Thus began the reckoning of an
uncertain future.
“I wanted to play college football,
so I knew I needed a niche,”

Andrew said. “My dad had done
a bunch of research and saw
a (long snapper) had gotten a
scholarship offer from Notre

Dame, Nebraska. So he’s like, ‘Okay,
let me figure out more about this.’
And then next thing you know, I got a
Twitter (direct message) from Chris
Rubio and he just said ‘Hey, my name
is Chris Rubio, check out Rubio Long
Snapping.’ So I checked it out and
was like ‘Let’s go to a camp.’ ”
Added Brad: “We came back from
the Chicago trip and he sat down
with his mom and myself and said
‘I want to do this. I want to do more
camps, get better at it.’ And that’s
what we did.”
The Rubio Long Snapping camp
began 14 years ago, starting with six
participants and growing to as many
as 300 at the most recent camp.
Six years since their first meeting,
Rubio — a former long snapper at
UCLA — still has lasting impressions
of Andrew.
“Honestly, one of my top snappers,”
Rubio said. “He wasn’t silent, I’m a
big fan of that because I don’t like
when long snappers are tense. When
they’re tense they never do well. … If
he never hears his name, he’s done a
great job.”
And being heard was difficult,
anyway. Rubio compiled film and
offered a communication channel
for his long snappers to find open
roster spots at the collegiate level.
Andrew sent his own edited tapes
to schools, even making a trick shot
video in 2013 — a YouTube clip that
still rouses laughter amongst his
teammates.
He doesn’t mind them poking
fun. How else was a long snapper

supposed to make himself known
when doing so is the very antithesis
of the position?
***
Andrew traveled to Grand Valley
State and Ferris State. Lehigh called.
Then Butler and Central Michigan.
Michigan State inquired, followed by
radio silence. The attention he finally
earned was humdrum.
Then, Brady Hoke and Michigan —
which hadn’t recruited a player from
Troy Athens since 2002 — chimed in.
“One day, I got a text message from
Allen Trieu from Scout.com and
he said, ‘Hey, I don’t want to jinx it,
but Michigan just called me about
you. They’re coming to visit you
tomorrow.’ ” Andrew remembered.
“And I was like, ‘You know this is
Andrew Robinson, right?’ He goes,
‘Yeah, I know.’ I was starstruck. I
was like, ‘Really? I got on Michigan’s
radar?’
“I remember running down into the
basement where my dad was. I told
him, ‘Hey, I just got told Michigan is
gonna come visit me tomorrow.’ He
was like ‘Yeah, right. You’re kidding.’
… I got called out of class and people
are like, ‘A-Rob’s meeting with
Michigan?’ It was a big joke, like, ‘Oh,
it’s snapper Rob.’ No one thought
that I’d end up where I was.”
Neither did his father. He never
envisioned Andrew making it to the
next level. Both Andrew and Bradley
making it as long snappers was
unthinkable.
But when Andrew got his walk-on
offer from Michigan shortly after, it
also represented a foot in the door
for Bradley.
Between the two brothers, Bradley
is the taller, leaner one. It’s why

Andrew only calls him his “baby
brother” instead of “little brother.”
It’s also why, with Andrew’s
experience to guide him, Bradley’s
D-I offers were proactive and
not reactive — Illinois, Louisville,
Auburn, Wisconsin, Penn State and
Michigan State all reached out.
The attention gives Brad and
Andrew a laugh — Bradley didn’t
even want to long snap. He wanted
to be a quarterback. His stature said
otherwise.
“He
really
fell in
love
with it
when
he
first
met
Chris

Rubio,” Brad said. “Andrew’s
participating (at a camp) and
Bradley’s going, ‘I could do this.’ …
On his way home from camp he says,
‘I want to do this too. I want to start
going to camps.’ ”
From there, the “consistency” of the
Robinson brothers, as Heppner puts
it, elevated Bradley into a greater
spotlight. After wading through
offers and one year as a Spartan,

ETHAN WOLFE DAILY SPORTS WRITER