By Tyler Wooten
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – It's not a glamorous position, but every team has a long snapper and they all play a vital role on special teams. Indiana State, however, has potentially the best long snapper in the nation this season in senior Joshua Appel.
Appel – a finance major from Normal, Ill. – has quietly been a key factor for the Sycamores since his freshman season in 2013, which is a good thing. Most of the time, if fans know their long snappers' name it means he isn't doing too well.
That hasn't been the case for the superb Appel, who has earned two different Preseason All-America honors this year in addition to being named a First-Team All-American last fall after a perfect season in 2015. Appel is also coming off his second-straight victory at the prestigious Chris Rubio long snapping camp this summer, where he bested 37 of the best collegiate long-snappers in the nation to win the overall title.
“Those things are great,” Appel said. “It's nice to be able to receive that recognition. But that stuff was then. Right now I'm focused on winning. But those were nice to get, and going down to Florida and winning that camp is something I'm really proud of.”
Appel brings those honors back to a mostly veteran specialist group. Even though he will be snapping back to a new kicker and a new punter this season, the group is mostly upperclassmen that know what training camp is all about.
“For the specialists (camp) has been really good so far,” Appel said. “Compared to other years I think we've hit our stride very well. We're an older group for the most part, so everyone understands camp and the grind of it.”
These four years have gone by fast for Appel, and he now finds himself the elder statesman in the locker room.
“It's weird,” Appel said. “It's gone by really fast. I remember sitting there as a freshman and the seniors at the time telling us how fast it goes, and I didn't really believe them. But here I am now on my last go-around. It's definitely gone fast. I don't want it to go, but it's exciting.”
Appel's recruiting story to Indiana State is a peculiar one, seeing as he grew up in a city with another Valley Football school: Illinois State.
“Recruiting for me was a little bit different,” Appel said. “I got recruited later in the process. For the most part I was recruited by Illinois State because my coaches in high school had a really good relationship with them. They actually had an All-American long snapper at the time, so they weren't really looking for a guy. They came and saw me snap one time and said I could walk-on, and then I got a call from Coach (Jami) DeBerry (then the special teams coordinator) one day and got an offer from here, and that ended up being a great decision.”
The Sycamores landed a great one the day Appel decided to come to Terre Haute, and all Appel has done since is become one of the fastest and accurate snappers around. The position is a difficult one, as not only does Appel need incredible technique and hand-eye coordination, but in a split-second once the ball is snapped he also has to turn into an offensive lineman to make sure he doesn't get bowled over, and then he has to turn into a linebacker to charge down the field after the punt.
“It's probably 95 percent technique,” Appel said. “There are a lot of mechanics that go into it. Sometimes snappers aren't the greatest athletes, but the form of it has to be second-nature for us to where it becomes a habit. I'm to the point now where I don't really think about it; it's just something I do.”
“I'd say the speed of the ball is something I do better than a lot of people in the country,” Appel continued. “Not to say that anyone else is bad at it, but that's just something that has come naturally to me.”
With another great season under his belt in 2016, Appel would surely draw the eye of NFL scouts. Actually taking a long-snapper in the Draft is a rarity, but when one good enough comes along teams don't let them sit around too long in free agency following the Draft.
“That's something I've talked with Coach about,” Appel said. “Just talking to people who know people who played in the league and know how the process works, I think I'm going to get a shot, but I have to take care of business this year first.”
Appel and the Sycamores are nearing the end of training camp, and will kick off their season at home against Butler on Sept. 3, with kickoff set for 3 p.m. ET at Memorial Stadium. Don't forget: the second Sycamore Athletics Kickoff Party is scheduled for this Saturday (Aug. 20) from 3-5 p.m. at the Athletic Annex next to the Gibson Track & Field Complex.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Football team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.
