Hurricanes’ Clay James strives towards perfection

After redshirting his freshman year, Clay James enters the 2019 season as the starting long snapper.

That might not seem like a big deal, but long snapping is a position that demands perfection.

James, who was the primary long snapper throughout his high school career in Cocoa, Fla., said that it takes long hours to achieve perfection in that position.

“A lot of people think it’s just like you go out and you snap a ball at practice or whatever,” James said. “It’s taken hours and hours and hours to get here.

“Perfection is the standard of being a long snapper,” he added. “You know you have no room for error. So being perfect is probably the toughest thing. A lot of guys would say pressure but I don’t know if that’s really as big of a thing as being perfect. Day in and day out, you literally have to be the same person each and every day.”

James said he added 30 pounds on his bench press over the summer but added that squats and power cleans translated to his position more.

“Everybody snaps different,” James said, “but the way I do it is I lock my knees as hard as possible and that’s how you generate power.”

Saturday’s matchup against No. 8 Florida at Orlando will be the beginning of James’ quest to perfection.