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Former linebacker lives OSU dream as snapper
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Sunday, Jan 06, 2008
NEW ORLEANS: There are about 100 species of snapper, including black, gray, ruby, flame, scarlet, Mexican barred and the ever-popular and much-sauced red.
While we're on the topic, let us not forget the most indistinct of these sea creatures, Lutjanus ambiguus, otherwise known as ambiguous snapper. Yet nothing matches the long snapper for being overlooked and inconspicuous. For Exhibit A, I give you Dimitrios Makridis, a fifth-year senior who plays football for Ohio State.
OK, in the (small) minds of some folks, being the starting — that's right, Dimitrios is not the backup — long snapper is not the equivalent of being a football player. And Makridis hears it from his teammates every now
and then.
''Yeah, especially if I happen to get hurt,'' he said, as the Buckeyes sat for interviews at the Superdome, two days before their confrontation with LSU in the BCS National Championship Game on Monday night. ''They'll say, 'You're a specialist and you're hurt. Must be tough.' Then I have to think of something to come back at them with.''
But what can Makridis say? That he's forever cleaning the dirt out from under his fingernails after he spins the ball back to the punter. And only the punter. Why do you think they call it ''special'' teams? A different guy snaps the ball on field goals, though for a while, Makridis competed with two others for that job early in the season.
It's not that he can't guide the ball to the placekicker, 7 yards behind him. After all, it's 14 yards to the punter. But with 100-plus players on the squad, if one snapper is two percent better than another at his particular specialty, coach Jim Tressel is going to give him the assignment.
When he was still matriculating at Warren Harding High School, Makridis was accustomed to a little more action and a little less razzing from his teammates. As a two-year starter at middle linebacker, he played in a state-championship game but lost to Cincinnati Elder in 2002.
Makridis' football credentials were solid. He probably could have won a scholarship at another school, but his focus was solely on being a Buckeye. He threw away letters he received from Wisconsin and Wake Forest.
Always Buckeyes
''I never checked out those schools,'' he said. ''I wanted to come to Ohio State from the beginning.''
So Makridis walked on. He was not invited to accept a scholarship. He was not a prized recruit. He was, in fact, a nonrecruit. It was, ''Who are you and why are you wearing a football helmet?'' But he made the team, even got a chance to show what he could do as a linebacker his freshman year.
''In my mind, I thought I could be a linebacker all the way,'' Makridis said. ''But the next year, they told me, 'You're here to be the long snapper, and that's it.' ''
Better to be the long snapper on punts than not to wear the scarlet and gray at all. Makridis appeared in one game in 2005 and two in 2006 as the backup long snapper, which gave him the same status among Ohio State fans as the dry cleaner who launders the Brutus Buckeye costume.
But so what? Makridis grew up rooting for OSU but never set foot in the Horseshoe until he played. When he became the starting long snapper on punts this season, Makridis had made a dream happen.
How many of us can say that? How many of us have even given it a serious try? When I was a kid, I often heard people say that immigrants to America try harder. Maybe that's true of sons and daughters of immigrants, as well.
Nick and Irine Makridis, Dimitrios' parents, emigrated to Ohio from Greece. Nick was about 13 when he arrived. He quickly learned to love football growing up in the tough steel town of Campbell, adjacent to Youngstown. As a high school All-American, he had a chance to pick from among 104 colleges to continue playing either offensive or defensive lineman.
Navy wins out
''He could have been on the 1977 Pitt team with Tony Dorsett,'' Dimitrios Makridis said. ''Instead, his father made him go in the Navy. My dad is my biggest fan. Oh yeah, my biggest critic, too. Trust me. But he taught me everything I know.''
Makridis has been able to take his football career one step further than his dad, and he will ''give the NFL a shot.'' But there might be a problem with that stress fracture in his back.
''It hurts every day, and I have to have treatment every day,'' Makridis said. ''It came from having to bend over all the time.''
Alternatives to NFL
If the NFL is not in his future, Makridis is secure in knowing he will still have one. Maybe it will be earning an MBA after he graduates in winter quarter with a major in operations management and logistics. Or maybe he will attend law school, following in the footsteps of his mother, who is an attorney.
Either way, like Chris Spielman and Eddie George, Joe Germaine and Archie Griffin, all of whom preceded him, Makridis will have earned his varsity letter playing football at the highest collegiate level.
Even so, he will forever be asked, ''What's so tough about being a long snapper?'' The answer is obvious, given a moment's thought. The long snapper can lose a game.
''You have to be perfect every time,'' Makridis said.
Nobody is perfect, you say. Then again, how many long snappers do you know?
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com.
NEW ORLEANS: There are about 100 species of snapper, including black, gray, ruby, flame, scarlet, Mexican barred and the ever-popular and much-sauced red.
Get the full article here.
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