College Notebook: It’s a snap for York

Sam York is a long way from Marblehead.
The 19-year-old mechanical engineering major is a freshman at the Ohio State University, and also happens to play football for the 13-1 Buckeyes. Ohio State will play for the national championship Monday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and York will be on the sidelines wearing his no. 58 jersey.”I never expected to play college football,” said the 6-foot-1-inch, 207-pound York. “But I’m living my dream at Ohio State.”York is a red-shirt long snapper with Ohio State. He still has four years of eligibility as a student-athlete after this season, but gained invaluable experience practicing with a team contending for a national title.
“The culture here at Ohio State is competitive excellence,” he said. “We say, ‘Four-to-six, A-to-B.’ Four-to-six seconds is the average length of a play in football, and you go from point A to point B as hard as you can.”
York fell in love with football as a kid in Marblehead, and never hesitated when an extra opportunity for playing time arose.
“My eighth-grade youth football team needed a long snapper, and I thought that would be a great way to get more playing time,” York said. “[Marblehead High assistant coach] Steve Lewis was my eighth-grade football coach and he was the one who got me into long snapping. I give a ton of credit to him. He taught me the basics of snapping.
“From there, that’s when I started going to camps to further develop my skill, and started to snap faster and more accurately.”
During York’s sophomore year of high school, he grew very interested in the nuance and craft of long snapping.
“I realized it was something I could do,” he said. “I started to see what I needed to do to become a Division I player. I stuck to the routine and worked hard every day, and I really hit the jackpot.”
York looked at Ohio State because of its highly regarded engineering school, then reached out to the Buckeyes’ special teams coaching staff after he was accepted into the university.
“You’ve got some of the best talents in America playing here,” he said. “These guys are hard workers and are truly dedicated to the game. You see [running back] Ezekiel Elliott and [quarterback] Cardale Jones practicing over the summer, and they work beyond their limits. Everyone puts each other on their shoulders, especially when times are hard.”As a red-shirt freshman, York’s responsibilities include working with the field goal and punt unit as a snapper, running drills for the linebackers and cornerbacks and mimicking routes run by the opponent’s offense.
“It’s a lot of work,” he confirmed. “There are endless nights of snapping to targets, but my heart and soul is really into long snapping. It’s showed that hard work really does pay off.”
One of York’s biggest thrills is suiting up every day for two-time national champion head coach Urban Meyer.
“I grew up watching Coach Meyer at Florida win national championships,” said York. “It’s truly an honor to play for him.”
York was on the sidelines as Ohio State defeated the number one team in the country, Alabama, 42-35, in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day, living and dying with every play.
“That was the most unbelievable game,” he said. “It was a whole different kind of special, something that will stay in my heart forever. Hopefully there’s more to come.”
York will be back on the sidelines on Monday, pulling for his Buckeyes to crown themselves national champs.
Sanders, Stinson named rookies of the week
A pair of former Item girls? basketball all-stars were named as their respective conference?s rookie of the week on Monday.
Sharell Sanders of Caldwell College, who helped lead St. Mary?s to the Division 3 state title last year, was named the Central Athletic Collegiate Conference rookie for the week that ended Sunday.
Sanders had a career-high 18 points and 10 rebounds and matched her career-high with five assists in a 77-54 win over Chestnut Hill College.
This season, Sanders is averaging 6.5 points, 3.