Long snapping guru Chris Rubio on new Texas commit Tate Haver
Texas landed a prospect of a different sort on Tuesday when 2023 Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Christian long snapper Tate Haver announced his commitment to Texas. Haver was given a chance to play at Texas by Jeff Banks and the Longhorns on Sunday, and made the call to flip his commitment from Boston College to Texas two days later.
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Though unranked by On3 and all the major recruiting services, Rubio Long Snapping ranks the 6-foot-0, 220-pound Haver as a five-star prospect at the specialty position. According to Rubio Long Snapping, a five-star carries the following traits: “perfect mentality, size, athleticism, spiral, speed and consistency. Freshman year starter at any college/university. All-conference on day 1 of college, scholarship pick.”
Inside Texas caught up with Rubio Long Snapping’s Chris Rubio, a former UCLA long snapper who is one of the authorities on the unique responsibility to get his perspective on Haver.
Inside Texas: As someone who works with Tate, I’m curious what he brings to the table as a long snapper?
Chris Rubio: “The good thing about him, and there’s a lot of good things, is he has improved dramatically over the past year and a half. I’d say last summer he was good, and you could tell he was right on the cusp of greatness because he has zero wasted movement. That’s what you want with a long snapper, someone who doesn’t have any hiccups and there’s not any wasted movement.”
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“If we’re talking about a wide receiver and him getting off the line, you want him to go straight forward. You don’t want him to go back and forward. That would be wasted movement. With long snappers, it’s the exact same thing.”
“He gets down, he gets set, and boom, that ball is flying back to the punter. You always want about 0.75 (seconds) or quicker and he’s easily under that. He moves really, really well on his feet and he’s a coachable long snapper.”
Inside Texas: Within your industry, I have the sense Jeff Banks is well thought of. Is that the case and is he a special teams coordinator that helps get the best out of guys like this?
Rubio: “Oh yeah, considering Banks was a former punter at WSU, and I’ve known him for almost 15 years I think now, he’s one of those guys that he knows the position. He appreciates long snappers, which not a lot of people do but him being a former punter, he obviously appreciates the long snapper because he knows the play starts with the snapper. He does a great job with them. He’s a great guy. I’ve known him a long time.”
