When It Comes To Long Snapping, IU’s Langston Is ‘As Good As There Is’
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Let’s start with the mailbox. It explains, as much as anything, Mark Langston’s long-snapping accuracy, why this 6-foot, 222-pound seven-year college veteran is such a key figure in Indiana’s very special special teams group.
Langston stands at the podium of the Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium team room in white adidas t-shirt, a practice completed, more work looming.
He is asked to explain his accuracy in delivering the ball on extra point and field goal attempts, and on punts. He pauses to reflect on his high school days in Savannah, Georgia.
“My dad built me a target,” he says.
A target?
“We went mailbox shopping at Home Depot. I got a mailbox and stuck it on a post, and I learned to snap it in the box.”
More questions come. How big was the mailbox? Langston gestures to form an oval shape about the size of a small shield.
How far away was the box? “Fourteen yards,” he says.
How accurate was he? Langston still has the sheets he used to record his efforts.
An ACL injury cost Langston the 2023 season. The lesson he learned, he says, was “You can’t take a day for granted because it can be over the next play. Stay within yourself and try to do your best every time you’re out there. Treat it like it’s your last.”
“I’d chart 10 a session. Sometimes, I’d be 80 percent. Sometimes, I’d be 90 percent. Sometimes, it was 10 percent. Other days, I’d be 30 percent. I’d figure out why and focus on the bad and the good, fix my routine and get better.”
It sounds simple enough, although it isn’t during the pressure of a game, when big and powerful defensive lineman try to disrupt you; when they will smash into you as soon as the ball is snapped unless you smash into them first; when Hoosier players and coaches, including head coach Curt Cignetti, expect perfection because that’s what it takes for points to be scored, good punts to be executed, field-position battles to be won, and victories to be achieved.
The No. 21/19 Hoosiers (2-0) excelled at it during victories over Old Dominion and Kennesaw State, and more is expected Friday night when Indiana State (2-0) comes to Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium.
How big an edge will IU have? When it comes to long and short snapping, Cignetti says Langston is “as good as there is in the country.”
As far as his approach to staying mentally focused, Langston says, “A lot of people train until they get one right. I train until I can't get one wrong.
“It’s just having a purpose every time you snap a ball. Especially when you go through summer (workouts); that's when you chip away at the sculpture you're building every year. And then, when you come to the game and to practice, that's when you don't think and rely on your muscle memory.”
An ACL injury cost Langston the 2023 season. The lesson he learned, he says, was “You can’t take a day for granted because it can be over the next play. Stay within yourself and try to do your best every time you’re out there. Treat it like it’s your last.”
Langston has long snapper since middle school, although that was in limited doses.
He had a plan, at least as good of one as a 13-year-old can come up with, and if it meant a little deception, well, when you’re young, you think the end justifies the means.
“I wanted to be the punter, but they had me play long snapper. I would purposely mess up a long snap so I could punt.”
It seemed foolproof.
Then, his coach ruined it.
“Coach was like, well, you’re not doing either now.”
For head coach Baker Woodward at Savannah Christian Preparatory School, Langston snapped and played linebacker, doing both well enough to earn all-state honors at each position.
As a senior, he helped SCPS make the Class 3A Final Four while totaling 186 tackles. He also played baseball and helped the Raiders to a state runner-up finish in that sport.
Langston went to Kennesaw State and played linebacker while long snapping on the side. By his third season, now at Georgia Southern, he had become the starting long snapper.
Last year, Langston transferred to IU, and success quickly followed, earning honorable mention All-Big Ten honors. He’s a big reason why kicker Nico Radicic set a school record by going 69-for-69 on extra points, a streak that has now reached 80 straight. Radicic has also made 11-of-12 career field goal attempts.
Still, punting inconsistency cost the Hoosiers in last season losses to Ohio State and Notre Dame, which is why Langston says, while describing the identity of the special teams room, that, “Coming off last year, we have a chip on our shoulder. We have a lot to prove.”