Give Patrick Cardona credit for having tremendous foresight. Concerned that his son might be too small to succeed in high school football, Cardona came up with a way to make the youngster more valuable.
"It's kind of funny. The running joke is that my dad didn't think I'd see the field in high school because I was only about 120 pounds in eighth grade," Joe Cardona said. "He taught me how to long snap at a young age so that I would always have that as a way to get on the field."
Joe Cardona embraced the unique skill from the outset and has steadily transformed himself into one of the finest long snappers in all of college football. Numerous NFL scouts have attended Navy football practice to evaluate Cardona in-person and there is widespread belief he will have a legitimate opportunity in the professional ranks after serving his military commitment.
"Some of the NFL scouts are projecting Joe as the best long snapper in the country," Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo said. "He has great accuracy and there is no hitch – his ball goes straight from the ground to the holder or punter. Quick, efficient, accurate and powerful – Joe has everything the NFL people are looking for."
Cardona described himself as a "run-of-the-mill athlete" who played center and linebacker at Granite Hills High in El Cajon, California, but it was the long snapping ability that attracted college recruiters. Assistant Steve Johns recruits the West Coast for Navy and was tipped off about Cardona by a Granite Hills assistant with whom he had coached at Grossmont Junior College.
Hearing that Cardona had made the Chris Sailer National Kicking and Snapping event's honor roll and seeing the highlight tape was enough for Johns, who serves as special teams coordinator for the Midshipmen.
"I remember when Coach Johns told me that he'd found a long snapper," Niumatalolo said.
Cardona proved as good as advertised, becoming only the second freshman to start at long snapper in Navy football history. In 40 career games of delivering the ball on punts and place kicks, Cardona has not been responsible for a single bad snap.
"You really realize the value of having a great long snapper when you get a guy like Joe. For the four years he's been here, I've never had to worry about that position," Niumatalolo said. "Joe is really good at his craft and continues to get better each year because he really works on it."
Cardona only weighed 190 pounds upon arrival in Annapolis, but has gradually bulked up and now checks in at 6-foot-2 and 236 pounds. Niumatalolo said the senior has the size and strength to be a factor in protection along with the speed to get downfield and help with coverage.
Pablo Beltran has been Navy's starting punter since he was a plebe and took over as the holder for field goals and point after touchdowns as a sophomore. Beltran has spent the past four years fielding thousands of snaps from Cardona and said the consistency is remarkable.
"You can expect that 95 percent of Joe's snaps for punts are going to be on my right hip with the laces up. On field goals, they're always going to be on the spot with the laces out. Every time it's the same thing. He's like a machine," Beltran said.
An ideal get-off time for punts is 2.2 seconds while field goals are supposed to take 1.3 seconds or less. If Beltran has to take a split second to spin the football so the laces are facing up for a punt or out for a placekick that increase the chance of a block.
Hours and hours of practice repetitions have enabled Cardona and Beltran to figure out the exact distance a snap must travel in order for the football to rotate in such a manner that the laces are always where they should be. On kicks, Beltran sets up about a half yard deeper than most holders in order to ensure the ball arrives with the laces out.
"All I have to do is catch the ball and put it down. It's always right on the spot," he said.
Cardona really raised his profile this past summer by attending the Kohl's Kicking Academy in Whitewater, Wisconsin. He ranked first among all long snappers in terms of both velocity and time it takes for the football to reach the holder.
"My claim to fame is that I snapped the ball at 41 MPH. That really made people take notice," said Cardona, who routinely delivers the ball to the holder between .65 and .68 seconds. "The Kohl's organization is awesome with a lot of professional players as instructors. They really helped me out a lot. I picked up a lot of tips and pointers about snapping."
When the NFL scouts received the reports on Cardona out of Kohl's Academy, they began to flock to Annapolis. Kevin Garviolle, who tutors the long snappers for Kohl's, believes Cardona can play in the NFL.
"Having worked directly with Joe at camp it doesn't surprise me at all that he's getting NFL looks," Garviolle said. "First and foremost, Joe passes the eye test in terms of size and strength. He also possesses good footwork and fluidity of movement. He's very light on feet, which allows him to get back into protection."
Garviolle said the average time he clocked Cardona on 15 successive snaps was .65 seconds with a best of .62. "Joe snaps the fastest ball that I've ever seen and I've been doing this for 10 years," he said. "Joe throws a tight spiral that stays low and that ball is just humming. Joe definitely has the tools to snap at the next level. His mechanics are very short and efficient. There is a consistency of accuracy because the mechanics are always the same."
NAVY @ TEXAS STATE
Saturday, 8 p.m., San Marcos, Texas
TV: ESPNews. RADIO: 1090-AM, 1430-AM
LINE: Navy by 10