In Hawaii long-snapper Noah Borden’s upside-down world, everything is perfect.
In the past two football seasons, Borden has delivered 158 on-target snaps to punter/holder Stan Gaudion.
“I would bet my whole scholarship check that he could hit a bull’s-eye from 8 yards,” Gaudion said of Borden. “You know in the Army, the sniper rifle? He’s like a sniper rifle, but he throws the ball through his legs. Seriously, I wonder if the equipment room put a scope on his facemask, and he just looked through his legs through the scope — bam! — he would hit it perfectly right in the middle.”
Borden said he has developed a bond with Gaudion through hours of practices, weight training, meetings and video reviews.
“We’re together every day,” Borden said. “He tells me where he wants (the snap), and I’ll do my best to get it there.”
Borden, a 2012 Kamehameha graduate, joined the Rainbow Warriors in 2015 after serving a church mission. He handled the long snaps in 2015, then took over as snapper on both punts and point-scoring kicks when Brodie Nakama completed his UH eligibility. Gaudion is an Australian with no American football experience before joining the Warriors in August 2016. He redshirted in 2016, then became the punter and holder last season.
“It comes with the job,” Borden said of Gaudion’s snap-catching skills. “To be able to punt, you have to catch the snap. He puts in a lot of good work on his own with the JUGS (passing machine) and catching drills. He does his part to be the best he can be in catching snaps.”
Gaudion marveled at Borden’s study habits.
“Noah is a consummate professional,” Gaudion said. “He works on his craft so much every day. I’ve never seen someone watch so much film on snapping. You’d think he’d get bored. But, no, he’s a very focused guy. We’re lucky to have him. He makes both of my jobs very, very easy because he’s so good.”
Michael Ghobrial, UH’s special teams coordinator, said he tries to create distractions during kicking drills. Ghobrial will spray water at Borden or Gaudion before the snap, call a “timeout” or, like a baseball catcher to a hitter, start chatting. “I try to get into their heads,” Ghobrial said. “Talk to them a little bit. Ask them how their day was. See if they can drown out my voice in all of that. It’s a combination of all that.”
Borden and Gaudion have not been fazed in practices or games.
“Noah is so good,” Gaudion said. “You could put (defensive end) Max Hendrie back there, with no catching experience, and he could hold. Noah makes it very easy. He’s never had a bad snap in the whole time I’ve been here. He’s always good. Every snap has been perfect.”
Gaudion said Borden always delivers the football with the laces up on point-after and field-goal attempts.
“He knows the amount of revolutions he gets through the air,” Gaudion said. “If (the conditions) get a bit stronger, he will change the revolutions. So, normally before we go out (for a field-goal attempt), we’ll take a few on the side. He’ll set his gauge, and he’ll get himself perfect, and then we’ll go on the field and replicate it.”
Borden and Gaudion were instrumental in Ryan Meskell’s decisive field goal in the quintuple-overtime victory over San Jose State last weekend. Meskell was named the Mountain West’s specialist of the week, an honor he wanted to share with Borden, Gaudion and the rest of the field-goal unit.
“When holding, I try to take it really seriously because I know it impacts Meskell a lot,” Gaudion said of his Australian roommate. “I know it’s hard to kick when you don’t get a good hold. If I’m there, I’ll take responsibility for holding the ball for him. As much as a pest as Meskell is, I do like Meskell.”