What's the deal with the Shelley Smith Center experiment? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

What's the deal with the Shelley Smith Center experiment?

SkapePhin

SkapePhin

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I'm looking at updates again today and he is still in there. So far, another 2 botched snaps.

Why are they wasting time on this? Didn't Benton mention that its important to get the starting 5 set and give them as many reps together as possible? Seems like they are doing the opposite.

I can understand trying to develop the depth at that position considering how bad it is, but not at the expense of the overall OL chemistry.

And this experiment is also impacting Tannehill with all these bad snaps.

Can anyone explain to me why they are still stubbornly sticking with this even though it's obviously not working?
 
Same thing happened to Pouncey at first. Not a big deal. It's a lot to handle on such short notice, especially since he's probably also having to make all the line calls.

The main thing that can give you trouble as a center is if they want you to snap with your non dominant hand. This happened to me in high school when they tried to make me a center after our starter tore his ACL one day in practice. I'm left handed and they wanted me to snap right handed to make things easier for the quarterback. I could never quite master it (also didn't care for getting felt up :lol:). I don't know whether handedness is part of Smith's problem but in any case he's a professional athlete and has snapped before so presumably he'll figure it out. Give him time.
 
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Turn the page and try Smith at RG. They put Smith in a brutal position.
 
TheWalrus said:
Same thing happened to Pouncey at first. Not a big deal. It's a lot to handle on such short notice, especially since he's probably also having to make all the line calls.

The main thing that can give you trouble as a center is if they want you to snap with your non dominant hand. This happened to me in high school when they tried to make me a center after our starter tore his ACL one day in practice. I'm left handed and they wanted me to snap right handed to make things easier for the quarterback. I could never quite master it (also didn't care for getting felt up :lol:). Smith is a professional athlete though and has snapped before so presumably he'll figure it out. Give him time.
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When did Pouncey start off camp being unable to pass block and not being able to snap the ball to the QB? And no Smith hasn't snapped before. His quote was that he has never been a center in the pros, college or HS.
 
KTOWNFINFAN said:
When did Pouncey start off camp being unable to pass block and not being able to snap the ball to the QB?
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Pouncey struggled with shotgun snaps in college and during his first year with the Dolphins. Maybe you don't remember it but I do. He was using far too much wrist and bending his elbow, which is a common problem for inexperienced centers. You have to learn to think of your arm as a straight lever with the football at the bottom. It feels really unnatural.

And no Smith hasn't snapped before. His quote was that he has never been a center in the pros, college or HS.
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Smith played some center in college. It was never his full time position, but it is not entirely new to him.
 
Practice ends with a bad snap. Not looking good.

Omar Kelly ‏@OmarKelly 3m

Bad snap from Shelley Smith ends the practice. Isaako Aaitui recovers it. Victory goes to the defense. Two turnovers on 2 2-minute drills
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Shelly needs to get snaps because we need 2 centers. Garner/Shelly will be our centers, and we already know Garner can snap the ball.
 
Obviously the coaching staff thinks that if Smith can clean up the snapping issue he will be a better center right now than Larsen or Brenner. I think I would give Smith from the start of camp to the first pre-season game to figure things out. Two weeks should be enough time to get better and smooth out the wrinkles.
 
Shelly gives us the best chance to have a good running game. He can move and run block way better then any other center option we have
 
I'm done with it too... Let Garner handle it if we aren't going to bring in anyone else
 
Hopefully they will look at some centers who get cut from other squads.
 
Don't be "that guy" (the master of panic) on the message boards after the first week of camp. The snaps will iron themselves out or he won't play, it's as simple as that. Coaches have no tolerance for botched snaps but there is definitely a learning curve. Everyone struggles, go in the back yard with a football and snap it to your wife/girlfriend/significant other 20 times in a row at center/qb depth and step and hit a target at the same time. It's tough! But with repetition and and proper technique you'd get better over time. I think anybody we put at the position right now isn't strong enough to go a practice without a bad snap. As a coach, I'd rather have a technical issue like snapping to work on instead of a guy being simply out-matched physically every play and I think that's their thought process. Who am I to call it though.
 
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