Nate Snyder uses a seven-yard approach before sinking his right foot into the football on kickoffs.
The redshirt junior for the Indiana University football team doesn’t take a single stride for granted after enduring three surgeries on his left leg and the pain and the various emotions that came with them.
In April, the former Center Grove player ended IU’s spring practice No. 1 on the depth chart for kickoffs, an area in which the Hoosiers struggled last season on their way to a disappointing 5-7 record.
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Indiana opens the season on Aug. 31 against Ball State at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Snyder, who last played there as a member of Center Grove’s undefeated 2015 Class 6A state championship team, can’t wait.
“I’m really excited for it,” Snyder said. “I think I perform better in games than in practice. It’s the adrenaline and all that you’ve done preparing all week for the game.”
As a redshirt freshman during the 2017 season, Snyder was attempting to dive on a fumble during practice when a teammate rolled up on his left leg, breaking his fibula and tearing all of the tendons and ligaments in his ankle.
His first surgery included inserting five screws and a four-inch plate. The next two procedures were to correct ankle impingement syndrome, a process in which bone spurs form in the front of the ankle joint. All surgeries were performed by Dr. David Porter of Methodist Sports Medicine in Indianapolis.
Permanent reminders of Snyder’s road back include a five-inch scar on the outside of his left leg from the ankle to the mid-calf area. He has a smaller scar on the inside of his left ankle.
Snyder could have quit football and focused on academics, and no one would have blamed him.
Except, of course, Snyder himself.
“I’ve always had a ‘no excuses’ policy. I knew I wanted to try until I couldn’t anymore. I wasn’t going to quit,” he said. “It was probably more of a wanting to prove people wrong, but I have more passion for football now than ever before.”
Snyder is one of three former Center Grove players on Indiana’s roster, along with fifth-year defensive lineman Gavin Everett and long snapper Joel Limbach, a redshirt junior.
Joel Snyder isn’t surprised his son has overcome all that he’s been through.
“Nate is kind of like his mom (Shannon) that way. He wanted to keep kicking, and we supported his decision,” Joel said. “He just worked and worked and worked. He’s always had that mentality.”
Attempting a comeback tested Snyder mentally as much as it did physically. Accustomed to booming kickoffs into the end zone, the player who recorded 106 touchbacks on 135 kickoffs at Center Grove watched post-surgery efforts land between the goal line and 10-yard line in practice.
“After every surgery I would try to kick, but I couldn’t plant with my left foot and had no power on the ball,” Snyder said. “It was so frustrating. It’s hard to keep wanting to do it. I wasn’t kicking off as far as I was as a sophomore in high school.”
It wasn’t until February he began generating the power necessary to live up to his own expectations. During spring practice, Snyder averaged 4.1 seconds of hang time on kickoffs, with an average landing spot five yards deep in the end zone. Once, he thundered a kick 80 yards, the football landing five yards behind the end zone.
Snyder is also the team’s backup punter and second-team holder for field goals and PATs.
Away from football, Snyder earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in three years and is now focused on obtaining a master’s in safety management.
Snyder plans to apply for a medical redshirt, meaning he could be kicking footballs for IU through the 2021 season.
Just maybe it’s his way of making up for lost time.
