MASON ARNOLD BRINGING “DO YOUR JOB” MENTALITY TO “SURREAL” BUT “BITTERSWEET” OPPORTUNITY AS OHIO STATE’S STARTING LONG SNAPPER
When Bradley Robinson went down with a knee injury in Ohio State’s seventh game of the season against Iowa, Mason Arnold immediately became one of the Buckeyes’ most important special teams players.
Before that game, Arnold had never played an in-game snap for the Buckeyes. Since then, Arnold has been Ohio State’s starting long snapper, handling every snap on field goals, extra points and punts.
That opportunity has come with mixed emotions for Arnold. While he is happy to be playing, he was sad to see Robinson go down with what’s expected to be a season-ending injury in his final year at Ohio State. But a switch flipped for Arnold as soon as he became the Buckeyes’ top long snapper: The team is counting on him to do his job, and he wants to ensure he does the job well.
“It was bittersweet. It was sad to see him go down. I look at him as like a big brother to me,” Arnold said of Robinson getting injured. “But it's an opportunity, and I just decided it's time to go to work. So I was ready.”
A redshirt freshman walk-on, Arnold has had to step into challenging situations in his first three games as Ohio State’s long snapper. After replacing Robinson mid-game against Iowa, Arnold’s first complete game came on the road in one of college football’s loudest environments at Penn State. His second start came last week at Northwestern, where high winds and rain made his job more difficult.
Despite those challenges, Arnold has been flawless as Ohio State’s long snapper so far, firing the ball accurately back to Jesse Mirco for punts and holds on Noah Ruggles’ kicks.
“He's been great,” Mirco said this week. “It's definitely not an easy spot for him, young guy, never played before and kind of thrown in the deep end at Penn State. He did a good job getting the ball back, and he's been really good on field goal. He's always been good on field goal at practice and stuff as well. So I mean, Noah’s confident, I'm confident back there. He's definitely been good.”
The opportunity to wear the scarlet and gray has been a dream come true for Arnold, who grew up in Tampa but has family members from Cleveland who were already Ohio State fans. Arnold’s only other preferred walk-on offer out of high school came from Kansas, so the chance to play for the Buckeyes was one he decided he couldn’t pass up.
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...tersweet-opportunity-as-starting-long-snapper
