STATE COLLEGE — The path to big-time college football was clear for Blaise Sokach-Minnick. Climbing the depth chart as quickly as an old high school teammate did at Penn State never seemed to be in the cards, though.
For the Wyoming Area grad and the Nittany Lions‘ backup long snapper, that was always going to be part of the deal. And, waiting his turn is just fine.
As Dominic DeLuca rose to special teams brilliance, an expanded role on defense and even a team captaincy in his first handful of seasons after walking on to the program, Sokach-Minnick spent his first two seasons at Penn State biding his time at what quietly developed over the last decade as one of the deepest and most competitive positions on the roster. When Penn State opens the 2024 season Aug. 31 at West Virginia, Sokach-Minnick likely will be biding his time again on the depth chart behind starter Tyler Duzansky at long-snapper.
Which, to him, is simply another chapter in his education at the all-important special teams post.
“When I was getting recruited, (DeLuca) was in his early years here, and I just talked to him through the recruiting process,” Sokach-Minnick said. “He loves everything about this school and told me it’s the place to be. I couldn’t agree more, after I visited here and talked to the coaches. Being here with him is awesome. He helps me in every way he can.
“Originally when I came in, I didn’t know anybody. Just having someone you know and grew up with was helpful for me and just made it a little bit more comfortable a transition. To see two kids come from a small school like ours and play on the big stage, I think it’s really cool and really inspires the youth in our area.”
While DeLuca has played in two New Year’s Six bowl games and is competing for a starting spot at linebacker this fall, the fact for Sokach-Minnick is, the starting job at long-snapper has been more difficult to grab than the starting quarterback spot at Penn State.
In James Franklin’s 10-season tenure as head coach, only four players — Tyler Yazujian, former Wallenpaupack standout Kyle Vasey, four-year starter Chris Stoll and Duzansky — have started at long snapper. (Franklin has actually started five quarterbacks.)
For his part, Duzansky is showing no signs of letting the job go. After a steady 2023 debut season as the starter, he opened the 2024 season by being named to the watchlist for the Patrick Mannelly award, given annually to the nation’s top player at the position.
Stoll won it in 2022, his final season as the starter. He’s now starting for the Seattle Seahawks.
“Just to learn from all the experiences our guys have had and how reliable they are, I think that’s really valuable,” Sokach-Minnick said. “Coming in as a freshman (in 2022) and having Stoll and learning from him, and learning from Tyler and all the experience he had last year has been great for me. I think that’s something that really developed me as a player.
“A lot of it is mentality. It’s not easy to do our job and really be perfect in a stadium in front of 107,000 screaming fans. Every specialist is unique, and we all do things kind of in our own way.”
Sokach-Minnick said his strength is the accuracy of his snaps, which is key when bad snaps mean lost field position. Velocity matters too, and he spent the first several seasons of his career working on improving his size and strength in the weight room. He is listed at 219 pounds on the roster this year, up 14 pounds from his listed weight when he arrived on campus in 2022.
But for the other Wyoming Area grad on the Penn State roster, the goal this season is to bide even more time under first-year special teams coordinator Justin Lustig, and to be available and ready for a special teams unit that already has a kicker (transfer Chase Meyer) and punter (Riley Thompson) on award watch lists as potentially the top players at their position.
“I’m just looking to take it day by day and really just get better in any way I can,” Sokach-Minnick said. “We have a great room around us. I think one of the things coach Lustig really preaches is that we have the ability to be the number-one special teams unit in the country. I think that’s something we all take to heart every day. So collectively, it’s us just working together, working on ourselves, taking it day by day and helping this team find ways to win is all we want to do and what we’re striving for.”
