The No. 1 guy?
COLLEGE FOOTBALL vibe, that ‘the No. 1 school in the nation just offered me a scholarship and that’s my dream,’ ” Underwood said. “We were talking about it on our three-hour drive back to Atlanta [airport]. … I’ll be waiting though, wait for a little bit and see what else comes in.”
He’s also been communicating with Florida and Georgia and would like to see if those programs offer.
There is a lot to this long-snapping thing. Most centers defer to the specialist on fourth down. Orlando has been a mecca for long-snappers in the past.
Orlando First Academy was a long-snapping production line for a while, with Crofoot brothers Kyle (Florida), Ike (South Carolina) and Chas and Clayton (Auburn). There was also Butch Rowley, a longsnapper during the Urban Meyer era at UF. The Crofoots’ brother, Johnnie, was a holder at UF as well. Lake Brantley’s Chris Guido had success as Florida’s long-snapper earlier this decade.
Oh, by the way, Underwood is not just a longsnapper. He’s much bigger than most specialist centers at 6-foot-4, 205 pounds and he’s a heck of a tight end/receiver who can also play some H-back if needed. Underwood is Lake Mary’s leading receiver with 28 catches for 632 yards and eight touchdowns, averaging 22.6 yards per catch. He’s a big reason Lake Mary is 5-3 overall and 3-1 in Class 8A, District 4 and in the hunt for a district title and a state playoff berth. The Rams play at Apopka (6-1, 4-0) for the district title Friday night.
“It’s great and Alabama was looking at that, me being so athletic. They liked that,” said Underwood, but he said they did not mention to him playing a position other than long-snapper. “That’s just like a plus for me.”
His focus Apopka.
“We gotta go get the win,” Underwood said of Lake Mary’s upcoming matchup. “Make it to the playoffs. It’ll be hard to make the playoffs without the win.”
He’s proud of his contributions at both positions for Lake Mary, but he probably puts in the most time at honing his long-snapping craft.
“You gotta be really flexible, you gotta be big, you gotta be able to block, you gotta be physical, you gotta be good with handling pressure because you’re gonna be in a stadium full of thousands of people and it’s gonna get a little nervewracking,” Underwood said.
And he knows when he’s delivered the ball with perfection.
“Usually when I put it right on the hip [of the punter] and it’s a perfect spiral and I hear the punt and I just know it’s a good punt. I just love that feeling,” he said. “Then you gotta fire off and go tackle … gotta go cover.”
He has huge fans in Johnny and Tommy Townsend.
“It’s great working with them … a great feeling. They’re way above me, with Johnny in the NFL and Tommy will soon be going to the draft,” Underwood said. “It’s just great working with them, working with high-level people.”
The family genes are strong, and they start right at home with Rocco’s father, David Underwood, who played at UCF and was a Football Gazette AllAmerican at offensive guard in 1988. Rocco’s older brother David Underwood Jr., who also played at Lake Mary High, is a student recruiter at UCF. right now is