Mighty long snapper Thor

Made FB team at Southern Illinois

Thor Hadfield gets ready to snap the ball to Greg Kirby at Del Norte High School on Thursday. Hadfield, a 2010 Warrior graduate, walked on and made the football team at Southern Illinois University as a long snapper. He will be a red-shirt freshman this fall. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

When tryouts were over, only 6 were chosen to join the program. Thor Hadfield, a 2010 Del Norte High School graduate, was one of them, thanks to a valuable skill. He knew how to long snap.

“I knew it was my ability to long snap that stood out,” he said.

Hadfield was a backup quarterback for the Warriors as a junior and began to learn to long snap so he could see the field more often, he said. Even when he was the starting quarterback his senior year, he still long snapped, Hadfield said.

The long snapper is the guy who needs to snap the ball as quickly and accurately as possible during punts, field goals, and extra point attempts. A bad snap could be all the difference between a win and a loss, so having a good long snapper who rarely makes an error is something team’s value.

“It’s going great,” Hadfield said. “I’ve always wanted to play college football my whole life. I’m thankful.”

Southern Illinois, with a student population of around 20,000, is a NCAA Football Championship Subdivision team located in Carbondale, which is around 96 miles away from St. Louis.

Hadfield redshirted last season. This fall, he said that he will likely back up the current starting long snapper, who is a junior. Hadfield said that he is absorbing everything he can and wants to contribute, perhaps on special teams.

“Right now I’m just working my way up,” he said.

When he found out he made the team, his father Bob Hadfield,  the former athletic director at Del Norte High and head varsity football coach for a year in Thor’s senior season, was in Carbondale. Thor was able to tell him in person the great news.

Adding to this was the fact that Bob Hadfield is a 1981 graduate of Southern Illinois and had been a walk-on as a linebacker.

“When I told him he had this big smile on his face,” Thor Hadfield said

Bob Hadfield said that while he did not see much game action in college, the friendships he gained and experiences he had while playing football is something he’ll always remember. For his son to be able to experience this as well is quite special.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Hadfield said. “A lot of kids don’t go on and play college football. It’s a big deal to walk on and make the team. I was proud of him.”

To Bob Hadfield, Thor’s ability to long snap proved to be valuable.

“That definitely got his foot in the door,” Bob Hadfield said. “Not everyone can do it. He taught himself and got pretty good at it.”

While his dad went to the school, Thor Hadfield said that did not play a role in him going. He said that the main reason was that he liked the coaches and they made a good impression when he looked into walking-on.  And, he liked the  school and the programs they offered.

Thor Hadfield, who is currently 6 feet 4 inches and around 200 pounds is trying to bulk up and put more muscle to his frame, which he hopes will  help. Hadfield is currently in Crescent City to visit family and friends and will soon return back to Illinois to go back to school and prepare for the upcoming football season. The Salukis finished 5-6 last year.

While Bob Hadfield is proud of his son making the football team, he is even prouder of his accomplishments in the classroom. Last semester, Thor Hadfield  earned a 4.0 GPA and is currently studying sports management.

Bob Hadfield said that his son understands the importance an education will play in his life and is investing himself fully into doing well in school.

When the schedule came out for this fall, Thor Hadfield found it ironic that in the second game of the season his squad will face Division 1 school Mississippi on the road.

Cody Hoffman, a friend of his and a 2009 Warrior graduate, is a starting wide receiver at Brigham Young University, which travels to Ole Miss for its first game of the season.

Hadfield said that he finds it  “incredible” that he and Hoffman’s respective college gridiron teams are playing at Ole Miss back-to-back.