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Oklahoma Long Snapper Ben Anderson Lands on Preseason Watch List

Anderson was almost perfect as a redshirt freshman and should help the Sooners' special teams be even better in 2024.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma long snapper Ben Anderson
Oklahoma long snapper Ben Anderson / Ben Anderson via Twitter
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With a new coach and analyst in charge, Oklahoma’s special teams are expected to be much improved in 2024.

But one big reason the Sooners should be better this year is that everyone involved in the kicking operation — from snapper to holder to punter to kicker — is back in 2024.

And starting the whole process with flawless execution on every placekick and punt is returning long snapper Ben Anderson.

Anderson this week landed a spot on the Patrick Mannelly Award Watch, the college football award that goes to the nation’s top long snapper.

Anderson, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound third-year sophomore from Charlotte, NC, started all 13 games last season as a redshirt freshman.

Anderson’s snaps were good on all 132 special teams plays last year, according to Pro Football Focus. That includes 43 punt snaps and 89 placekicks. His PFF grade as a special teams player was 61 or better in 12 of his 13 games.

Anderson was the nation’s top-ranked long snapper out of Charlotte Latin High School in the 2022 class and flipped to OU after originally committing to Georgia Southern.

He helped the Sooners’ special teams units transition seamlessly after the graduation of five-year starter Kasey Kelleher, who played in 63 career games (one off Bryan Mead’s school record) and snapped on all but one kick from 2018-22. Kelleher was a two-time preseason honoree for the Mannelly Award watch list.

In addition to Anderson, placekick holder (and backup punter/kickoff man) Josh Plaster is back, as is punter Luke Elzinga and kicker Zach Schmit, although the competition at kicker is expected to be wide open this season between Schmit, transfer Tyler Keltner and freshman Liam Evans. OU also adds a new special teams analyst in Doug Deakin, who replaces Jay Nunez.

The Mannelly Award was launched in 2019, so Oklahoma doesn’t have any previous winners yet. 

Mannelly was a long snapper in the NFL for the Chicago Bears from 1998-2013 after being selected in the sixth round out of Duke. He set the Bears’ franchise record for most seasons (16) and most games (245), including Super Bowl XLI.

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John E. Hoover

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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