Ted Rosenbaum isn't one for celebratory dances or flashy play-making. The senior has made his stance on glory very clear.
"I didn't get into it to get noticed," he said of his football career. "I'd rather not be in the spotlight."
An atypical response for the average football player, maybe, but not such a strange philosophy when you consider that Rosenbaum occupies the most thankless position in football: the long snapper.
"It's one of the most important and probably under-appreciated skills that you have," Quakers coach Al Bagnoli said. "And that requires a special guy to walk up there, put his head between his legs, know there's gonna be a rush coming, and snap the ball back."
At 5-foot-11, 210 pounds, Rosenbaum isn't exactly a custom-built football player - "I'm definitely too small to play any other position around here," he said.
But in his line of work, as long as he can accurately spin that football seven yards behind him and two feet off the ground, the body of a long snapper doesn't have a strict blueprint.
Rosenbaum's path to anonymity began in eighth grade in his hometown of Evanston, Ill., when a coach at Northwestern, a former long snapper himself, showed him the tricks of the trade. Not that many have heard it before, but the rest is history.
And this year presents perhaps the greatest challenge a long snapper will ever have to face.
On a field goal unit that has been plagued with problems the past two seasons to an absurd degree, Rosenbaum is the lone familiar face on an evolving special teams squad.
Upperclassmen kickers Derek Zoch and Braden Lepisto have been supplanted by youngsters A.J. Nobile and Andrew Samson, and the graduated Scotty Williams will give up his spot as primary holder to Lepisto.
"Last year is last year," Rosenbaum said. "We got new guys coming in. . I'm still here."
Rosenbaum remains the old hand that will quietly be counted on to turn his unit around - despite the fact that his low snap, not an errant kick, played a large hand in Penn's loss at Princeton last year.
"He brings a tremendous level of confidence to the kicker," Bagnoli said. "Certainly we think we're gonna have a more consistent effort by the kicker."
With the kicker-by-committee system eliminated, the inexperienced Samson will need every boost he can get this season. Consistent snaps and holds are the first step to a productive kicker, and Rosenbaum is the first person in the field-goal assembly line.
So if Samson connects on a chip shot from the hash mark or a 40-yard bomb during Saturday's opener against Lafayette, the cheers won't be directed at No. 99. An important piece of the least glorified unit in the game will probably be getting less recognition than anyone.
But that's fine by him.
