FOOTBALL

How this little-known Penn State hero pushes on

Frank Bodani

fbodani@ydr.com

It was up to the walk-on no one knew.

Tyler Yazujian handled every snap at Penn State for three-straight years. He's proud of his ability to block and even cover downfield after making the snap.

Tyler Yazujian used to watch games from the student section of Beaver Stadium. He came to Penn State to study security risk analysis, not play football.

But there he was in Ireland ... the final play ... a field goal to win or lose ... a perfect snap required.

His mother couldn't bear to watch the TV in Royersford, Pennsylvania.

"I literally had to get up and leave the room. I got nauseous. I was a nervous wreck," said Denise Yazujian.

Then she heard yelling and celebrating.

Her son had flourished under fire, the first of so many times to come at Penn State.

"You think you're amazed by the kid, and then he goes and does something else ...," she said.

Yaz snapped for every punt, field goal and extra point in each of James Franklin's first 40 games at Penn State. He earned his scholarship.

And he bailed out the Lions with the most steady of performances. Who notices the long snapper until he screws something up? He was so automatic, Franklin admitted to often forgetting to even thank him.

Again, just the way Yaz likes it.

"I love being anonymous, just kind of showing up. If you do your job right, no one cares to tell you. But if you do it badly, everyone hates you. ... I never wanted to be the center-of-attention type of guy."

Even though he's accomplished more than most in college.

With one more long-shot goal still to reach.

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Yaz is preparing to defend his master's thesis research, and it's "kind of complicated."

He talks of analyzing data from terrorist attacks to find systematic comparisons and contrasts.

Preparing for a career in counter terrorism is what drove his college decision. He could have played tight end at a Division II or III school, but no one else, he said, offered his academic focus like Penn State.

Now, as he finishes his graduate degree in information sciences and technology, he hopes to join the FBI or National Geospacial-Intelligence Agency.

"Your doing stuff no one else on this campus is really doing," Yaz said. "Being part of a team that prevents something devastating from happening is more than rewarding."

School work and playing club baseball would have been enough. Except that when he arrived at Penn State in 2012 he saw posters announcing tryouts for new head coach Bill O'Brien. He suddenly missed football. And he was intrigued.

He snapped only a few times as a backup in high school. But he showed enough promise at that Penn State tryout the coaches invited him back for another.

He eventually made the team and redshirted in 2013. He impressed Franklin's staff enough to win the snapper job right away.

"I didn't care if I ever smelled the field, I just wanted to be a part of something like this," Yaz said. "I didn't care if I was the fifth-string snapper. Just getting a glimpse of being a part of something bigger than yourself."

Meanwhile, he conquered a top-shelf major and became only the 16th two-time Academic All-American in Penn State history. He owns a 3.85 GPA.

And now he's trying to make a living at snapping footballs. He's spent the past three months training for the NFL Draft and free agency that follows.

He attended off-season snapping camps in Arizona and California.

During Penn State's Pro Day he exchanged phone numbers with scouts from the Green Bay Packers and Denver Broncos, though he knows the struggle could be long and the odds aren't good.

He's taking a long-range view of this. He will keep training and snapping while he begins his national security work.

Would you bet against him getting to the NFL?

"Got to keep with this for how ever long it takes," he said.