Long Snapper

The Ravens' new long snapper comes with controversy. Kevin Houser , who was signed by the Ravens on Wednesday to replace the injured Morgan Cox , has been accused by former New Orleans Saints teammates and coaches that he led them to buy a combined $1.9 million in Louisiana state income-tax credits they never got in late 2008 and early 2009. Saints coach Sean Pa yton and his wife along with two players filed a civil lawsuit in March 2010 against Houser, citing unfair trade practices and unjust enrichment, among other claims.

The Ravens announced today that they have signed long snapper Patrick Scales who was with the team last summer. Scales, who went to Utah State, was brought into training camp last season to provide some competition for Morgan Cox. However, Cox won the job and Scales was released as part of the Ravens' roster cut down to 53 players. Cox had a solid 2011 season and certainly did nothing to lose his job, but Ravens coach John Harbaugh has said on several occasions that everybody will have competition in training camp.

The Ravens announced today that they have signed long snapper Patrick Scales who was with the team last summer. Scales, who went to Utah State, was brought into training camp last season to provide some competition for Morgan Cox. However, Cox won the job and Scales was released as part of the Ravens' roster cut down to 53 players. Cox had a solid 2011 season and certainly did nothing to lose his job, but Ravens coach John Harbaugh has said on several occasions that everybody will have competition in training camp.

With the draft starting tomorrow night, today will be the final day of The Sun's position-by-look at the Ravens. Today, we'll examine the specialists: Current specialists under contract : Kicker: Billy Cundiff; Punter: Sam Koch; Long snapper: Morgan Cox; Returners: Lardarius Webb, David Reed, Philip Livas.   Chances that the Ravens draft a specialist in first three rounds : As much of a priority as the Ravens have made upgrading their special teams, which struggled last season, they are not going to be spend an early pick in the draft on it exclusively.

When Morgan Cox became the Ravens' long snapper for the immediate future Saturday, he estimated he received 80 text messages and posts on his Facebook account congratulating him. But the rookie from Tennessee said he can't remain content with his standing on the team. "People are proud of me, but I take that with a grain of salt," Cox said after Monday's practice at McDaniel College in Westminster. "It's a job. It's not quite college, where I've got the next four years. There's always competition and there's always somebody behind me wanting my spot.

The Ravens' fears were confirmed Monday when a magnetic resonance imaging exam revealed that rookie long snapper Morgan Cox tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and will miss Sunday's regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals and the postseason. "He's got a torn ACL, and he's got a third-degree sprain in his MCL. So he's out for the year," coach John Harbaugh said. "And like we said after the game, that was kind of our fear. What he managed to do, to play through that, [running back]

PHILADELPHIA--The magic man is in his element. He's working a crowd in the back room of a Philadelphia sports bar, his baseball cap turned backward and the sleeves of his sweat shirt pushed up over his thick forearms. A dozen men are huddled around him, transfixed. That's not because he's Jon Dorenbos, long snapper for the Philadelphia Eagles. It's that he's holding a deck of playing cards, effortlessly riffling them with one hand, sometimes shooting them to the other in a graceful arch.

The Baltimore Football Club reduced its roster to 60 yesterday by cutting 18 players, including one who was with the team throughout its inaugural season.Veteran defensive lineman Scott Miller, who appeared in all 21 games last year as Baltimore's long snapper, was released along with 17 rookies on the day the Canadian Football League required teams to pare rosters to 65 players."It's tough to let a guy go like that. Scotty did a lot of good things for us last year, and he's one of the hardest working guys we had," said assistant general manager Jim Popp.

At times last season, Matt Katula was surrounded by news cameras, took up sizable amounts of newsprint and was the subject of Internet message boards. And he hated every moment of it. Katula is a long snapper, and his job is to snap the football during punting and kicking situations, impede a wall of rushers intent on blocking the ball, and get off the field. Last year, those tasks sometimes included dealing with the media after Katula was responsible for off-target snaps that contributed to a few missed field-goal attempts by Billy Cundiff.

- Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen predicted he would one day receive Jon Condo's gratitude for giving him the long snapper assignment. Condo's response: "I was like, 'Yeah, OK, whatever.' " Friedgen didn't share Condo's nearsightedness. Condo was a redshirt freshman simply looking for more playing time. The Terps' long snapper job opened, giving him an opportunity. He has parlayed that into a Pro Bowl selection. Having completed his third season with the Oakland Raiders, Condo planned to spend this week settling into a Hermosa Beach, Calif.

Kyle Schmitt knows a thing or two about Division I walk-ons. The Atholton coach, a former Maryland offensive lineman, was a Terps graduate assistant when his younger brother Dewey came to College Park without a scholarship. But the younger Schmitt, at 6 feet, 236 pounds, served his time on the scout team as a freshman, and the following fall emerged as the Terps ' long snapper — a role he never relinquished. From indistinguishable walk-on to starter, Dewey Schmitt was an inspiration.

Kyle Schmitt knows a thing or two about Division I walk-ons. The Atholton coach and former Maryland offensive lineman was a Terps grad assistant when his younger brother Dewey came to College Park. The 6-foot, 236-pound athlete played five positions in high school and didn't appear to have a clear-cut path to playing time at Maryland. But the younger Schmitt was a scout-team all-star during his freshman year, and the following fall he emerged as the Terps' starting long snapper - a role he never relinquished during the remainder of his college career.

Ravens long snapper Morgan Cox has been named the team's 2011 Ed Block Courage Award recipient. Here's the full news release:   The Ed Block Courage Award Foundation has announced that LS Morgan Cox is the recipient of the 2011 Ed Block Courage Award for the Baltimore Ravens. Cox was the lone undrafted rookie free agent to make the Ravens' 53-man roster during the 2010 campaign. In his first NFL season, he snapped for a pair of specialists who earned Pro Bowl honors, starting kicker Billy Cundiff and first-alternate punter Sam Koch.

When I saw on SI's Hot Clicks this afternoon that there was a new trick shot video floating out in the blogosphere, I rolled my eyes. Then I squinted to read the summary and saw that the video came from a long snapper, so I had to click the link. It was worth it. Kudos to Washington State long snapper Zach Enyeart for having a sense of humor about his oft-overlooked role and putting together a pretty entertaining trick shot video. It also helps that the soundtrack is "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant and that Enyeart seems legitimately stoked after every successful snap.

PHILADELPHIA--The magic man is in his element. He's working a crowd in the back room of a Philadelphia sports bar, his baseball cap turned backward and the sleeves of his sweat shirt pushed up over his thick forearms. A dozen men are huddled around him, transfixed. That's not because he's Jon Dorenbos, long snapper for the Philadelphia Eagles. It's that he's holding a deck of playing cards, effortlessly riffling them with one hand, sometimes shooting them to the other in a graceful arch.

The Ravens' new long snapper comes with controversy. Kevin Houser , who was signed by the Ravens on Wednesday to replace the injured Morgan Cox , has been accused by former New Orleans Saints teammates and coaches that he led them to buy a combined $1.9 million in Louisiana state income-tax credits they never got in late 2008 and early 2009. Saints coach Sean Pa yton and his wife along with two players filed a civil lawsuit in March 2010 against Houser, citing unfair trade practices and unjust enrichment, among other claims.

Ravens long snapper Morgan Cox has been named the team's 2011 Ed Block Courage Award recipient. Here's the full news release:   The Ed Block Courage Award Foundation has announced that LS Morgan Cox is the recipient of the 2011 Ed Block Courage Award for the Baltimore Ravens. Cox was the lone undrafted rookie free agent to make the Ravens' 53-man roster during the 2010 campaign. In his first NFL season, he snapped for a pair of specialists who earned Pro Bowl honors, starting kicker Billy Cundiff and first-alternate punter Sam Koch.

The Ravens' fears were confirmed Monday when a magnetic resonance imaging exam revealed that rookie long snapper Morgan Cox tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and will miss Sunday's regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals and the postseason. "He's got a torn ACL, and he's got a third-degree sprain in his MCL. So he's out for the year," coach John Harbaugh said. "And like we said after the game, that was kind of our fear. What he managed to do, to play through that, [running back]