A football player doesn’t normally walk onto a field one day and say, “I want to be a long snapper.”
But Maddox Broughton did exactly that about five years ago as a high schooler at perennial state power in Highlands Ranch. Now, he’s a well-honored long snapper at the University of Northern Colorado, earning recognition as an All-Big Sky Conference selection and All American for the building Bears.Broughton’s sense of clarity on long snapping was set in part after his first varsity snap during a nationally televised game on an ESPN network.
In September 2021, Broughton came off the bench for an injured teammate and snapped on a point-after touchdown in a blowout home win over Eastside Catholic from Seattle, Washington. The game was televised on ESPNU as part of a high school showcase between two power programs.
Before turning to long snapping, a highly specialized role, Broughton and his brother were linemen in the Valor Christian program. They realized they probably wouldn’t cut it physically playing on the line beyond high school, so they called an audible on their future football plans.
“I didn’t see a path on either the offensive or defensive line out of high school,” Broughton said. “As a player, they’re bigger and better than me. I knew then long snapping was something I could take really far.”
, a 20-year-old junior from Sedalia and Castle Pines, is listed as 6 feet, 230 pounds on the UNC roster. Younger brother , 18, a freshman long snapper at the . Graham is listed at 6-0 and 240 pounds on the Coyotes roster. Junior is a two-year starter at the position, according to USD Athletics.
South Dakota, ranked 12th in a , visits UNC on Saturday, Sept. 5 in the second game of the year for both teams. South Dakota beat UNC in last year in Vermillion.
“We both do things better, but in the big picture, I’d say I’m better,” Maddox said.
Maddox is one of the most honored UNC players in the last few years. He was named to an FCS last month. , the same company behind that preseason selection, picked Maddox to a at the end of 2025 — his first season as a full-time starter.
In July, Maddox was one of 38 Big Sky players named to the . He was an All-Big Sky honorable mention selection at the end of last season.
UNC’s special teams unit was ranked third in the Big Sky last year in net punting. Placekicker Jacob Willig and punter both ranked well by average. Maddox snapped on all 59 punts and 21 field goals and extra points without a recorded mistake, according to UNC Athletics.
“He has the accolades to show for it that he’s one of the best in FCS,” said Casey Casper, the Broughton brothers’ long snapping coach with for kicking, punting and long snapping. “He knows what he’s looking at, the how and the why and this is what happened. He’s a coach in his own right.”
About four or five times each year, Maddox and Graham work in person with Casper. He is the national lead long snapping coach and evaluator at Kohl’s near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The brothers visit Casper either in Wisconsin or at a camp in McKinney, Texas. They also communicate at times via text or video conferences, said their father, Craig Broughton. Maddox has spent time with Casper at camps in Denver. Craig, 49, encouraged his sons’ interest in the position and has learned along with them. Craig spent time in high school as a lineman and long snapper.
“They’ve gained knowledge and expertise, and once they understand the skills and drills and techniques, they’ve taken time to develop their craft,” Craig said.
Craig said Maddox and Graham want to play professional football. Those jobs are competitive in the National Football League. There are only 32 long snappers, one per team, in the NFL during the regular season, according to . One of those NFL long snappers is , an Eaton High School graduate who played at . Sieg is starting his ninth season in the NFL and third with the Dallas Cowboys. He signed with Baltimore as an undrafted rookie in 2018. He was released after training camp and then spent five seasons with the Raiders.Long snapping is a bit of an obscure position on the football field, but it shouldn’t be. Itap a difficult job and itap evolved in the game into a more specialized role in the last several decades. Long snappers are usually only noticed on the field if something goes wrong. Anonymity is their friend.
The long snapper appears only on special teams, for specific plays — punts, field goals and extra points — and they have to perform on the spot. There is no time to get into the flow of the game. Consistency, accuracy and velocity with the ball, and strength and athleticism for the snapper are important components of the role. Maddox qualified for the state wrestling tournament as a senior at Valor in 2024, and he was a member of the school’s state championship rugby team the same year.
“He needs to be doing the same thing over and over and over again,” UNC specialist coach said. “He needs to be extremely accurate, and the timing is essential because operation time is the catalyst of good special teams.”
Two other key pieces of long snapping are confidence and the ability to quickly erase mistakes from your mind. In the words of fictional American football turned soccer coach Ted Lasso, this would be having the memory of a goldfish, as Maddox pointed out.
“You have to have that selfish mindset where you know you’re there to help your kicker and your partner and the team do well,” Maddox said. “But then you also have the confidence in knowing you yourself are a great snapper.”
Maddox said there are two types of long snappers: look and no-look. A look snapper keeps their head down and looks back at the target, the punter or holder. A no-look snapper maintains eyes on the ball and relies on the feel of the motion to deliver the ball.
On field goals, Maddox looks back at the holder. On punts, he starts looking at the ball and ends up with eyes on the punter as he lets the ball go.
The long snapper is about 15 yards from the punter on punts, and seven or eight yards from the holder on extra points and field goals.
This trait pairs well with a position requiring repetition. Maddox doesn’t spend all of his practice time snapping the ball. He’s evolved beyond that point of the craft, now relying on quality over quantity.
Blumentritt said Maddox sends a tight spiral to the punter, allowing for an easier ball to catch even when snapped at a high rate of speed. On field goals and extra points, Maddox also delivers — controlling the motion of the ball, allowing the holder to bring it down in the best place, with laces away from the placekicker.
“I feel like Maddox has got that down to a T right now, so that makes it super easy for us,” Blumentritt said. “He pretends that every single rep (repetition) is a game rep, and so I think thatap what allows him to perform at such a high level in games.”
