WESTWOOD — Westwood is clearly the hot spot for long snappers.
Xaverian’s Andrew Dufault has become one of the premier long snappers in the country and recently committed to continue his craft at Penn State. Less than two miles down the road, Westwood’s Joe Vinci is a late bloomer to the art of long snapping, but has become so good at it that he’s drawn interest from several Power 5 colleges.
Not surprisingly, both of them got their indoctrination to long snapping from the Crabtrees. Bill Crabtree is a longtime coach with Mass. Elite Football, while his son Kevin Crabtree played at Milton Academy before going on to Villanova, where he served as the team’s long snapper.
“I went to play for coach (Bill) Crabtree’s Mass. Elite team back in the seventh grade, but I was about 5-foot-2 at the time and he said I was too small to play guard,” Dufault said. “He told me the only way I could play was to long snap. When the season came around, I would stay after practice with my dad (Mike) and work on it in hopes I could make the team.”
Vinci didn’t start long snapping until his sophomore year in high school. It was not exactly a case of love at first snap for the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder.
“It started with Kevin Crabtree and his dad Bill, who coached my father (Joe) in Pop Warner,” said Vinci, who has drawn interest from several of the Power 5 schools, including Boston College, who has offered him. “They sent a text to my dad saying I should try long snapping. I did it for two games and got taken out and was only doing short snaps. I heard about an opportunity in the winter, gave it a shot, kept working at it every day and getting better.”
Vinci became so proficient in long snapping in such a short period of time that he went to a New Jersey camp in December 2022 and wound up winning the title. He then went to the Chris Rubio Long Snapping Camp in Los Angeles and emerged as one of the top five high school long snappers in the country (along with Dufault).
“Joe’s success is due strictly to his work ethic,” Westwood coach Brad Pindel said. “He’s very religious about getting his reps in, he’s always out there getting teammates to come work out with him. Joe just really this was something he was good at and just kept working to get better and that’s why he’s ranked where he is.”
Much like Vinci, Dufault has put in more than his share of time perfecting his craft. Al Fornaro has spent more than three decades coaching at Xaverian, the last six as head coach. He is quick to declare that Dufault is the best long snapper the school has ever had.
“The things that really jump out are the accuracy and the speed in which Andrew is getting the ball back,” Fornaro said. “When (former NFL tight end) Don Hasselbeck returned to join our coaching staff last year, the first time he saw Andrew snapping he told me, ‘I know I’ve been out of the game for a long time, but he’s better than a lot of guys we have in the pros.’ We put a clock on him, he’s very fast and very accurate – he’s just phenomenal.”
The 6-foot-2, 250-pound Dufault has received his share of Division 1 college interest over the past two seasons. He recently ended the recruitment process when he gave a verbal commitment to Penn State.
“They had a long snapper (Chris Stoll) who just signed with the Seattle Seahawks and they said he and I are pretty similar,” Dufault said. “To be able to long snap there, you have to be consistent and mentally tough because there are going to be big crowds. You just have to dial in and put the ball in the perfect spot.”
Something Andrew Dufault and Joe Vinci are doing as well as any high schoolers in the country.
