Grant Jaffe #57
Ivy League Football Champions (2019)
3x All-Ivy League Player (2017, 2018, 2019)
Dartmouth Football Record Holder (2019)
“I’ve never had to work to get a snap,”
"(Davis) Brief said.
“Grant’s all about what he does. He could be an NFL snapper, because he has the size and speed to go along with it.”
"In punt coverage, Jaffe has forced the most fair catches on the team and return units have to plan how to block him, which isn’t always the case with a long snapper.
His bulk and long arms mean opponents have a tougher time getting past him on extra point and field goal attempts."
"Grant Jaffe sometimes lies down on the job as Dartmouth College’s football long snapper. Right there on the sidelines, while practice occurs on Memorial Field, you can find the sophomore flat on his back, gently tossing a ball up a few feet with his arms over his head.
Jaffe actually is reinforcing the muscle memory necessary to have the pigskin leave his hands in precisely the same way each time. Gazing upwards, he can see by the ball’s slow rotation if his release is off to one side or the other."
Such tiny details matter when Jaffe’s in game action. He’s got to hit a specific spot every time.
For the 7-yard snap on place kicks, it’s the holder’s hands. They shouldn’t have to move, because if they do, it takes a little more time for him to get the ball down and it not only throws off the kicker’s timing, it gives opponents a better chance at blocking the boot.
With the 15-yard snaps used on punts, Brief ideally wants the ball fired at his right hip. Much higher and he’ll need to catch it with his thumbs down, necessitating time to turn them over before he kicks. Blocked punts not only change momentum, they have a nasty tendency to be returned for touchdowns.
Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens, who allots a recruiting admissions slot for one such player every three or four years:
“We have to make sure we don’t miss when we’re looking for one.”
The best offers came from Cornell and Dartmouth and given that Jaffe’s father, uncle and paternal grandfather were Big Green graduates, the scales tilted toward Hanover.
Grant Jaffe estimates he visited the campus roughly a dozen times before he enrolled."