EUGENE — When things are going optimally, Tyler and Nick Duzansky operate in near total anonymity.
Penn State and Oregon fans are largely oblivious that they’re players on their favorite teams and their contributions, almost entirely unnoticed, are performed in three quarters of a second or less, if everything goes according to plan.
Such is the life of long snappers. There are no highlight reels for quick, precise delivery of the football to holders and punters. The only times their efforts are replayed is if something has gone awry, even if it’s not their fault.
For the second time in 10 months, the Duzansky brothers will take the same field for one of the biggest games of their team’s seasons on Saturday at Beaver Stadium. They shared the field at Lucas Oil Stadium before last year’s Big Ten Championship game, but Nick did not play.
Tyler is Penn State’s three-year starter and a captain for the No. 3 Nittany Lions. Nick is the backup for No. 6 Oregon and has seen action in two games this season.
“It’s something you dream of as a little kid, both of us did,” Tyler Duzansky said. “Before the game take some time and have fun with it. During the game, get down to business and lock in.”
They’ll be two of the first dozen players on the field and will cross paths when the specialists go through pregame warmups on each side.
“It’ll probably be a little emotional for me because I’ve looked up to my brother and my parents since I was little,” Nick Duzansky said. “Knowing they’ll be there watching me and doing the stuff that I love will be so surreal. Of course there will be trash talk with my brother. But in my mind, he’s the best snapper in the world because I know how hard he puts the work in and the different stuff he does to prepare for games.”
Their parents, Jim and Jane, will make the trip from Chicago to experience what nobody else among the more than 100,000 in attendance will be going through in one of the marquee games of the season.
“As a parent you dream about your kids playing at the highest level they can,” Jim Duzansky said. “You try and keep your emotions in check. You’re cheering for both sides. Either way someone’s going to be upset.”
Evolution as long snappers
Tyler Duzansky played football in third grade, then took several years away from the game to focus on baseball and soccer. It wasn’t until his sophomore year of high school that he got back into football as a defensive end and tight end.
Will Halkyard, the son of their little league football coach, was on his way to becoming the long snapper at Northwestern. His father suggested to Jim Duzansky, who admitted knew “zero” about long snapping at the time, that Tyler attend a Chris Rubio specialists camp in April prior to his junior year.
Snow forced the camp to move into a gymnasium and Tyler didn’t know what he didn’t know. His initial snaps were not good.
“Truth be told, I didn’t even want to go to the camp,” Tyler said. “I didn’t know where to put my feet, where to grab the ball. I think it went four yards when I tried to snap it. I had no idea what I was doing.”
Tyler eventually got the hang of the niche craft and attended a few more camps, including at Wisconsin and Penn State, and began working with Neal Dahlman, a private long snapping coach in Chicago. Being 6-foot-4 gave Tyler a natural advantage at a position that relies on leverage.
“Right out of the gate he had a lot of raw talent,” Dahlman said. “I think it was a couple of camps before he saw a jump in the Rubio rankings but once he did it was confidence. Tyler was probably the fastest snapper I’ve ever worked with. I’ve seen him clocked at a sub-.6 (seconds), like a .58-59. That’s pretty unheard of and it’s borderline too fast.”
Tyler took over as the long snapper at St. Francis College Prep. His junior year of high school was interrupted by the pandemic, making on-campus recruiting visits impossible. He contacted coaches through Twitter, and along with the efforts of Rubio, got recruited to Penn State by assistants Eric Raisbeck and Joe Lorig, who later left for Oregon.
During Tyler’s senior season, Nick got called up to varsity as a sophomore. The younger brother, originally a kicker, would help the older brother practice by catching his snaps for punts. But when the team’s holder got hurt, Nick filled in during the playoffs.
“There’s probably no one else on that team that had caught more balls from Tyler than his brother just from warming up and in the backyard,” Jim Duzansky said.
As a battery they were perfect on PATs and field goals in the postseason.
Following his older brother
Nick Duzansky entered high school believing he was “100% a kicker.” It wasn’t until he joined Tyler at a lesson with Dahlman that he too got into long snapping.
“Going into it I knew nothing at all,” Nick said. “You throw the ball through your legs and it gets there. The first time I did it I snapped it way over my brother’s head.”
What Nick knew even years earlier was Oregon was his dream school.
When Lorig was hired at Oregon in 2022, the Ducks had veteran long snapper Karsten Battles entering his final season and Luke Basso already on the roster. Between their existing relationship from Lorig’s year coaching Tyler, Oregon’s need and Nick being the No. 7 long snapper, according to Rubio, the stars aligned.
“He’s a kid that does not miss,” Dahlman said. “He snaps the ball with great consistency.”
Nick played in five games and completed seven snaps while redshirting in his true freshman year in 2023. He did not appear in a game last season, but has gotten back on the field this year as Lorig is rotating him in, much in the same way he did with Basso when Battles was a senior.
“The thing about long snapping is everyone says it’s 90% mental 10% physical,” Nick Duzansky said. “Whenever you run onto the field, you might only get that one time. This year our first game we had no punts. You got to keep on staying in your head because you don’t know when your time is going to come and you might not.”
Parents on the go
Whichever game they attend on a given weekend, Jim and Jane Duzansky await their son’s arrival outside the stadium before being among the first inside to watch warmups since specialists take the field first.
Last year’s Big Ten Championship game was a unique experience, followed by a College Football Playoff journey that included a flight from Phoenix following the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31 to Burbank on the morning of Jan. 1 before the Rose Bowl.
Jim Duzansky will be wearing a Big Ten Championship game sweatshirt Saturday, since both teams are represented, while Jane Duzansky will wear a jersey that’s half Penn State white and Oregon green.
“You want both boys to excel,” Jim said. “Eventually someone’s going to be upset. You try to congratulate the one and console the other.”
Tyler has played in several White Outs during his career at Penn State and Nick attended the 2021 White Out against Auburn, so he’s familiar with the electric atmosphere. He said Oregon’s specialists practiced with speakers next to the huddle on Tuesday in an attempt to prepare for the difficulty in communicating.
“It’ll definitely be challenging, to say the least, for the opposing team,” Tyler Duzansky said. “I know he’s been mixing it up going and playing a little bit the past couple of years. No matter who’s in there they’ll have a challenge.”
Tyler and Nick will see each other before and after the dreamlike scenario Saturday night. They’ll be pulling for each other, not only because they’re siblings, but because they are two players in a finite community who has any understanding of the nuances of one of the most unheralded and anonymous roles in football.
“I know that when he’s out there, I’m rooting for him even though I’m on the opposing team,” Nick said. “If I get a chance to go out there and play, I know he’s going to be rooting for me because even though we butt heads it’s brotherly love and we want to see the best for each other.”
No. 6 Oregon (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) at No. 3 Penn State (3-0)
When: Saturday, Sept. 27
Time: 4:30 p.m. PT
Where: Beaver Stadium, University Park, PA
TV channel: NBC/Peacock
Watch: You can watch this game live for free with Fubo (free trial), with DirecTV (free trial) or streaming live on demand with Peacock.
Stream: DirecTV (free trial) or Fubo (promotional offers) or Peacock ($10.99/month) or Sling (college football season pass is just $199). Streaming broadcasts for this game will be available on these streaming services locally in Oregon and Washington, but may not be available outside of the Pacific Northwest, depending on your location.