What is Going on With Wyoming’s Snapping Issues?
LARAMIE -- Remember when St. Louis pitcher Rick Ankiel all of a sudden couldn't find the strike zone?
Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a rough patch in his career, too. A big-league catcher for the better part of 11 seasons, in 2010, just throwing the ball back to the pitcher became a tall task.
Chuck Knoblauch, out of the blue, started misfiring on his throws across the diamond. The former All-Star second baseman and American League Rookie of the Year made three errors in one game back in 2000 and took himself out of the lineup.
Those three, fair or not, were deemed to have the "yips."
That is not what is currently happening with Wyoming's center Nofoafia Tulafono, if you ask his position coach.
"That happens," Joe Tripodi said bluntly. "You know, centers like to sit back, and they have to see stuff and they have to make calls. We're certainly working on it."
The 6-foot-2, 325-pound senior captain has struggled with the shotgun snap through the Cowboys' first five games of the season. The latest miscue came late in the second quarter of a 31-19 victory over visiting Air Force.
Trailing by a field goal and facing a 3rd-and-5 at midfield, Tulafono skipped a snap on the turf that slid right past the feet of 6-foot-5 quarterback Evan Svoboda. The junior pounced on the loose ball 13 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The Cowboys were forced to punt.
That mistake thwarted a once-promising drive.
CBS Sports Network ran a montage of Tulafono's misfortunes during the game telecast, highlighting a snap that sailed over Svoboda's head and led to a fumble recovery in a Week-2 loss to Idaho. There have been others. Lots of others. They even showed an instance in pregame warmups when the California product dribbled another.
What is going on?
"One of the things that we've kind of identified is, there's times that he'll change the grip on the ball when he's looking at the defense to make a spot call or a protection look," Wyoming's first-year head coach Jay Sawvel said Monday during his weekly press conference. "Sometimes he'll kind of go to a knee or go to a low crouch and he's adjusting the grip. So there's things that we've got to look at.
"He's an experienced player. We'll get it figured out. I do think he's changing the grip some."
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Tripodi, who was a former guard at Northwestern and has coached offensive linemen exclusively since 2013, said while the quarterback-center exchange has been troublesome this season, he has seen issues like this also affect the center in the blocking game.
That hasn't been the case with Tulafono, he added.
"Fia, to his credit, has pushed through it," Tripodi said. "He was finishing some blocks in a pretty good way."
He's referring to a first quarter touchdown run against the Falcons. Sam Scott took the handoff in the backfield, made one cut and bolted through the defensive front. He had a massive hole to jet through thanks to his center, who latched onto linebacker Luke Fisher.
Scott's scoring burst chewed up eight yards. That's also how far Tulafono bullied Fisher down the field. Both ended up in the end zone together at the same time.
"It was fun to see," Tripodi added.
There was also a 15-yard dash from Jamari Ferrell in the third quarter that left Tulafono emphatically pumping his fists in the air.
Wyoming ball carriers capped the night with 173 yards on 41 carries. That's an average of 4.2 yards per attempt. Scott led all backs with 97 yards. Svoboda added 70 more, including two touchdowns. His 17-yard dash to the Tetons with 2:13 remaining in regulation sealed the Cowboys first victory of the season.
Most of that damage was aided by No. 77.
"I can tell you this, no one feels like Fia does," Tripodi said. "... Fia's an emotional kid, in a good way. When he's playing his best, he's into it and the energy level that he can bring makes a difference."
Wyoming is currently on a bye week -- a perfect time to get Tulafono's grip figured out, Tripodi added -- and will host San Diego State the following Saturday. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. and the game will be again televised on CBS Sports Network.
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