When someone asks you to think of a football player, what position do you think of?
Most will say quarterback, wide receiver or running back. Maybe a linebacker, kicker or cornerback.
Across all three facets of the game, in 25 positions, the last one you’d name is the most niche: the long snapper.
That logic also applies when talking about Oregon’s star-studded roster. With big names like Tez Johnson and Dillon Gabriel, someone like Luke Basso flies under the radar. Basso, Oregon’s long snapper, is renowned by teammates and those close to the Ducks for his elite yet very specific talent.
As a Lake Oswego native, Basso wanted to play for the Ducks for as long as he could remember. However, his route was not typical. As a sophomore, Basso couldn’t even spot a long snapper on the field.
“I didn’t even know what a long snapper was,” Basso said. “I thought up until my sophomore year of high school that the long snapper was the center who just had to do it.”
As a reliable linebacker at the high school level, he never even imagined he would be changing positions — that was until his Lakeridge High School head coach approached him.
“One day at varsity football practice, one of my coaches came up to me and said ‘Hey, we need a long snapper next year for varsity,’” Basso said, “so he just asked me because he assumed I knew how to snap.”
Basso had no experience snapping. He had played a small amount of center in middle school, and noted how he was always slightly talented with snapping a ball. So, Basso, along with the guidance of his father, decided to give it a shot.
“My dad was a receiver, and he played for Lewis and Clark [College] … he just supported me and would always catch for me,” Basso said. “Whenever we would go out on the field, he would help me with my technique and made sure I was ready to go.”
His talent translated to getting a few looks, but nothing major except an invite to a recruiting camp for long snappers.
“I went to a camp called Rubio Long Snapping, and at this camp, you get starred [and] you get ranked … [based] off of your speed and your spirals and accuracy [and] athleticism,” Basso said. “I went and I loved it and I did well. It felt like it was something natural.”
It was more than natural.
“Basso was very solid at the Rubio Long Snapping Fall Camp in WA on Oct. 20, 2019. First off, he has one of the best attitudes you will ever see,” the Rubio Camp’s official website said. “Basso is literally always smiling. His ball might be the smoothest in his class. Form is good and will be great once he gets fully set … great potential on Basso.”
What was most important about this experience was being named a six-star long snapper by the camp’s official rankings — the highest classification given.
“A six-star long snapper is someone that’s consistent — the understanding of it is able to play right away,” Basso said. “Someone that’s agile, someone that can snap hard, snap fast and snap well.”
It was only a matter of time before the national powerhouses started reaching out, but Basso had his heart set on one school — his beloved Ducks.
“UO got involved my junior or senior year. I reached out to the special teams coordinator at the time and just kinda gave it a shot. I knew Oregon was where I wanted to be,” Basso said. “I called, I texted [and] I reached out on Twitter.”
By December of 2020, the Oregonian got that offer, and within a week, he accepted — officially fulfilling his dream.
After two seasons on the sidelines, Basso finally got his chance in 2023 as a redshirt sophomore. He became the fourth long snapper at Oregon since 2014, so the position has been in great hands for the last decade.
The passing of the torch ended up as smooth as it could have been, as Basso settled in much better than his predecessors had.
In 2023, Basso snapped in all 14 games, reaching 10 snaps in three separate games and totaling 115 snaps throughout the season.
Long snapping is precise work, as the margins for comparison often range within hundredths of seconds. According to the Rubio Camp, Division-1 programs generally aim for snap times (the time between the snap and hitting the kicker or punter’s hands) under 0.78 seconds. At the same time, snappers cannot sacrifice even a quarter-inch of accuracy.
Basso rarely fails to hit those marks consistently and has remained accurate throughout his time in Eugene.
He has also come to love his day-to-day — a lot of which includes some more menial tasks.
“Practices are two to two and [a] half hours long, so while we’re out there, we’re trying to make sure we stay warm, not get distracted, but help out however we can and just do our jobs,” Basso said. “Sometimes it’s helping out other periods, or helping out by assisting our coaches doing drills. A lot of times we’re stretching … warming up the punters.”
There’s only so much time a team can afford to devote to special teams in a given practice, so the specialists have to go to the field half an hour before practice starts in order to get a sufficient amount of reps.
“We go out in the morning early,” Basso said. “We warm up with the other snappers and punters and just get ready for our opportunities in the day.”
Basso’s poise translates off the field, as his inactivity has forced him to really appreciate being able to do anything he can for the team. Whether that be his usual snapping duty or, as Basso remembered, receiving three-yard flat routes at tight end, he does it without hesitation and with enthusiasm.
“The most fun is when I’m in a neutral state, not getting too high, not getting too low and just reminding myself that every person I’m working with is a friend of mine,” Basso said.
The long snapper is the underrated hero of any football team, but Basso shines above the rest, which is something you’d never gather from speaking to him.
“You can’t let the moment be bigger than it is,” Basso said, “and you just have to be where your feet are.”
