The Coppell football team needed a long snapper after senior Jake Roemer injured his thumb in the preseason and it added freshman long snapper Brodie Scoggins to fill in his spot going into District 6-6A play.

Scoggins, who had only been on varsity for a matter of days after the call up, excelled against Plano on Sept. 24 and is now the go-to guy to snap for the Cowboys. Despite having to snap for one of the best kickers/punters in the nation, junior kicker Nicolas Radicic, Scoggins has embraced the pressure and takes on the challenge one snap at a time. 

How did you feel when coach Michael DeWitt moved you up to varsity?

I was definitely excited because being on varsity is such a big deal and it takes a lot of work to do. I was very excited to step in and get going with what I do best.

When you snapped for Radicic on Sept. 24, did you feel any pressure?

There will always be a little pressure because of how good he is, but with all the adrenaline rushing, it made all the nervousness go away and I just did my thing. 

What was running through your mind as you stepped out for your first varsity game on Sept. 24?

I kept telling myself that ‘you’re going to do fine, you aren’t going to mess up and everything will be fine’ because that environment is scary to go into for your first time. We definitely have to punt more [on varsity] and we actually kick field goals whereas on JV, we really didn’t kick that many field goals so there’s more pressure on me to make sure the snaps were good.

How supportive have the coaches been with handling the pressure?

Even though I did have one bad snap [on Sept. 24], they told me to keep my head up because it was just one snap and to focus on the next one, because if you keep thinking about the ones you mess up, you will continue to mess up.

How was your first game?

[Sept. 24] was definitely a lot of fun and the environment was great because it was homecoming. Especially with all the people in the stands, it was just even better. 

What is your pre-game routine?

I usually get the chicken parmesan from J. Macklin’s whenever we go there for pre-game meals. My pre-game playlist usually contains a variety of rap. I like to sit by myself, not talk to a lot of people and just listen to music to get myself prepared for a game.

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