Zack Taylor was in seventh grade when his brother Billy started long snapping as a way to increase his playing time for the Parsippany Hills High School football team.
Billy, then a sophomore, excelled at it, becoming one of the best in the country and ultimately earning an opportunity to continue long snapping at Rutgers.
Zack followed in his footsteps once he reached high school.
Now he's doing it again going into college.
Zack, now a junior at Parsippany Hills, committed to the Scarlet Knights this week, putting himself in position to take over for his brother as Rutgers' long snapper, specializing in snapping the ball accurately to holders and punters on kicking and punting plays.
"It’s great for my family," Zack said. "Being my state school and my brother has set a pretty good foundation there and I think he’s done a good job over the last three years. To have the opportunity to continue what he’s done is a pretty special thing to me and my family."
Rutgers could potentially have brothers as its starting long snapper for eight consecutive years.
Like his brother, Zack is among the best in the nation at the position.
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Rubio Long Snapping ranks him 16th in the country for the 2021 recruiting class, and No. 1 in the northeast.
Billy, who walked onto the Scarlet Knights but later earned a scholarship, was rated ninth in the nation for his class.
"I remember Billy and Zack telling me they have holes in their walls," Parsippany Hills head coach Dave Albano said. "They just snap and snap at home into a certain spot. If you watch the film, that ball is just dead center, whether it’s a short snap or a long snap, it’s where it’s got to got to. It’s speed and it’s repetition. And both of them have a great work ethic."
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Zack has put in countless hours honing the skill.
"Long snapping is somewhat of an art form," Zack said. "Like the countless hours of stretching and just working on slow-motion drills and doing everything you can to protect your form before you just go out there and snap as many balls as you can. It’s definitely a process and it takes a while to get it down."
Zack said he began thinking that he could pursue long snapping at the college level last year.
Once Greg Schiano took over at Rutgers, he and his coaching staff started recruiting Taylor's teammate Jordan Thompson, and soon were looking at Taylor too.
Tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile visited Parsippany Hills to meet with both of them, and Taylor was in touch with special teams coordinator Adam Scheier by early February.
Thompson committed in March and began doing his own recruiting of Taylor.
Once Rutgers extended an offer to Taylor — his first offer — he quickly committed.
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It's the first time in Parsippany Hills' history that two football players in the same class committed to Division-I programs.
"The last probably year of high school, it’s been on my mind," Taylor said. "I kind of just wanted the recruiting process to be over. I just wanted to know that I was kind of settled somewhere and I knew what my future held."
It's not common for long snappers to immediately get a scholarship offer.
That fact Taylor got one as a junior is significant.
"I knew he wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps. But for a school to give a kid a scholarship for special teams, it usually takes some time," Albano said. "Obviously they’ve done their homework. They’ve watched the film. they know what kind of snapping school he went to. If he’s like his brother, which I know he is, they’re set for four years."
Both Billy and Zack, who's also Parsippany Hills' starting center, also set an example for teammates.
It's not only that quarterbacks or running backs or wide receivers that receive opportunities at the next level.
"They’re teaching through hard work," Albano said. "And not just football season. It’s winter, it’s weight room. They travel all over the country long snapping."
Now Taylor not only has the chance to follow his brother's footsteps, but also be a part of Schiano's quest to return Rutgers to a formidable program once again.
"In the mid to late 2000’s, Coach Schiano had Rutgers pretty much almost close to the peak of college football," Taylor said. "To be able to be a part of that is definitely something special for me and my family but everybody in the state that is a fan of Rutgers football."
Email: iseman@northjersey.com Twitter: @chrisiseman
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