Michael Vinson Working Toward His NFL Dream
Notre Dame veteran Michael Vinson has been snapping footballs for a long time. More specifically, Vinson has been long snapping footballs for the better part of the last 15 years. He started dabbling at first as a fifth grader, but it gradually got more serious over time and now, entering his sixth and final season at Notre Dame, Vinson has one goal in mind.
"I want to go to the NFL,” Vinson recently told Irish Breakdown. "I've had aspirations of playing in the NFL for a very long time and in order for me to have the best success at that is to come back in a year get bigger, faster, stronger in the weight room, on the field, and become a better football player mentally (and) physically.”
The Fighting Irish had three players drafted by NFL teams this weekend, with another seven signing free agent contracts after going undrafted. Vinson likely would have fallen into the latter category this year, but he felt like returning for his sixth season of eligibility to hone his craft and build his body gives him a greater chance of landing with an NFL team a year from now.
"I've talked to a lot of guys in my own class who are doing that kind of stuff right now and also comparing how my numbers stack up to the guys who are in the NFL,” Vinson explained. "Those guys are just the best of the best, very consistent (in) everything that they do, so for me to try to aspire to be like them, that's one of the reasons why I came back is to try to get to that elite level of accuracy consistency.”
Vinson’s college career began in 2018. He saw no action that first season and made cameo appearances against just New Mexico and Bowling Green in 2019 before finally breaking through in Notre Dame’s second College Football Playoff campaign in 2020. He has been Notre Dame’s long snapper in all possible 38 games over the past three years.
"I've definitely developed a whole lot,” Vinson said of his progress since the start of his college career. "By snapping-wise, my body getting in shape and especially, this this last winter, I was able to put on 10 pounds of good body muscle. You know, it wasn't just 10 pounds of not good muscle, but it was a good 10 pounds and that's what I needed to do to get myself in the best possible shape. But in terms of when I was a freshman to now it's night and day. You know, physically, mentally, as a person as a man, I just think Notre Dame has changed me for the better.”
John Shannon, Vinson’s long snapping predecessor at Notre Dame, won the inaugural John Mannelly long snapper of the year award in 2019. Vinson has been on the preseason watch lists for the award the last two seasons and was a semifinalist last year, but is yet to win the ultimate honor, despite being a 2022 AFCA First Team All American.
Vinson is likely to be a preseason favorite for the award in 2023 as he looks to hone his skills with the ultimate goal of joining the elite ranks of 32 long snappers in the NFL.
"Those guys, they never miss,” Vinson said of NFL long snappers. "You know, each punt snap is right on the right hip. Each field goal snap is perfect location laces at 12 o'clock. But those guys they never miss and that's why they get paid the big bucks. So, for me working on my consistency, whether for punt and for field goal both, I gotta be better in both areas in order to get to that next level.”
Notre Dame already has two alums among the ranks of NFL long snappers. JJ Jansen, who holds the Carolina Panthers record with 226 games played, is entering his 17th season with the franchise, while Scott Daly has been with Detroit for two years after a year on the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad in 2018 followed by a year in the Alliance of American Football.
They are both players Vinson has tried to emulate as he works toward his final season at Notre Dame and his ultimate goal of being in an NFL uniform a year from now.
"That would mean a lot,” Vinson explained. "This has been a lot of years of hard work and making it as a snapper is so tough. There (are) only 32 jobs in the entire world. It's 32 of the best of the best. For me to have an opportunity to even get on a team like that, it would just be unbelievable. Then if I end up making a team, that just makes me want to keep even working harder, because once you get somewhere you don't want to stop working. You want to just keep going and going and going right until you get to the top.”
Vinson made 117 snaps without a fumbled snap last season. He will have a new holder this season with new walk-on quarterback Dylan Devezin in line to have the job.
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