BOZEMAN — Rocky Hogue is about as inconspicuous a four-year starter as you will find in college football. His relative anonymity is a true testament to the successful career he’s enjoyed at Montana State.
The senior long snapper has never done much to get noticed during his four years as Montana State’s primary long snapper. And that’s about as good a compliment as the specialist can receive.
Since joining the Bobcats before the 2013 season and taking over as the team’s full-time snapper as a redshirt freshman in 2014, one would be hard-pressed to pick out a memorable mistake Hogue has made. He has been strikingly consistent, snapping with rhythm, velocity and accuracy during a career that has included 38 starts over the last three-plus seasons.
Montana State long snapper Rocky Hogue/by Brooks Nuanez
“It’s an extremely important position and Rocky has done an extremely good job at snapping the ball his whole time here,” MSU senior captain Mac Bignell said. “I don’t know if I can remember one bad snap in four years. That’s amazing. He accepted that role and he has been very good at it.
“He’s the most overlooked player in terms of his position but he’s really good at what he does. He’s an extremely good team player. He knows he has one shot at doing his job. He might get four or five times a game but he does it really well.”
Hogue struggled with injuries early in his career. He hurt his shoulder badly during his first fall camp in 2013, forcing him to redshirt. He returned to start seven games in 2014 but did not play in five more as the shoulder continued to hinder him.
Over the last three seasons however, Hogue has been able to stay relatively healthy. Saturday’s contest in NAU will mark his 20th start as MSU’s long snapper since the beginning of last season.
“He’s lost weight because when we got here, they hadn’t asked him to block,” Montana State second-year head coach Jeff Choate said. “We have asked him to do different things than what he did under the previous regime. He’s embraced that, gotten into better shape, gotten stronger.
“He’s an excellent student, a low-maintenance young man and a very productive player for us. We try to give him as many kudos in house as we can because we know he’s not going to get a lot outside.”
During game day, you won’t find many Bobcats more engaged on the sideline than the young man wearing No. 56. Although Hogue has spent the last five years exclusively as a specialist, the transition from three-sport athlete wasn’t easy.
Montana State long snapper Rocky Hogue (56) by Kelly Gorham – MSU Communications
“At first it was hard just being a long snapper coming from high school where I’m on the field most of the time and just long snapping whenever we had to punt to transitioning to sitting on the sideline and maybe we punt, maybe we don’t,” Hogue said. “Maybe I’ll get two snaps a game, maybe I’ll get 10. It’s just about understanding the game within the game for me, trying not to think about it too much and it becomes easier for me.”
The former high school tight end, defensive lineman, basketball player and track and field participant said he’s so engaged now, he “loses his voice by the end of the first quarter” most games.
“Being in there all the time, a lot of the contact you don’t get anymore, I miss it sometimes but at the same time, I really wouldn’t rather be anywhere else,” Hogue said.
He has to be ready at a moment’s notice, which has been a fluctuating focus over the last four seasons. In 2014, Montana State won eight games behind a diverse offense and appeared in the FCS playoffs. In 2015, the Bobcats finished 5-6 but for no fault of an offense that led the Big Sky in scoring at 42 points per game, a unit that rarely punted.
Under Choate, the Bobcats have rededicated themselves to playing defensive-minded, ball control football that prioritizes maximizing field position. Hogue has seen his opportunities to fire bullets to Jered Padmos increase. Padmos serves as both the punter as well as MSU’s holder for field goal kicker Gabe Peppenger.
“Rocky has been extremely consistent and that is the biggest compliment you can every give a specialist,” Choate said. “What we always say is you are not trying to go out there and be occasionally great. You need to go out there and be consistently good. That’s what Rocky has been for us.”
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Hogue started long snapping during his freshman year at Merced High in the San Joaquin Valley in California. When he realized he had a knack for it, he talked his parents into sending him to a Chris Rubio long snapping camp to learn from one of the West Coast’s top mentors in the discipline.
“My parents started looking and noticing there’s a lot of long snappers who are on scholarship at all the FBS schools,” Hogue said. ”Most of those guys are on scholarships. I thought, ‘Why not give myself an opportunity to get one.”
Montana State long snapper Rocky Hogue (56)/by Brooks Nuanez
After finishing his career at Merced, Hogue planned on walking on at Sacramento State, a fellow Big Sky school about two hours north of his hometown. He had committed, attended orientation and planned out his next four or five years. Then Daniel DaPrato, former Sac State wide receivers coach who came to Montana State in 2013 to coach tight ends and coordinator MSU’s special teams, called Hogue with a more intriguing option.
“He said, ‘We have a scholarship if you are interested’ and I pretty much took it right on the spot,” Hogue said. “The first time I was ever in Bozeman was the first day of fall camp.
“After he called me and I looked up the school and saw pictures of the town, I was pretty excited to get up here but I was pretty nervous changing my mindset from being two hours away from home compared to an 18-hour drive. I really didn’t have a whole lot of expectations. I heard from family members who had been through here just how beautiful it was and how beautiful Bozeman was. But I really didn’t know what I was getting into until I got here. I didn’t realize how big the atmosphere was going to be, how involved the community was going to be. It was kind of a culture shock when I first got here.”
After sitting out the 2013 season, Hogue’s debut came on the other side of the country. MSU opened up the 2014 season at Arkansas State, a team from the Sun Belt Conference with a collection of athletes who looked like they should be in the SEC. That first game still marks one of the few times Hogue has been double teamed after snapping the ball for the duration of a game.
“I probably blacked out for a minute,” Hogue said with a chuckle as he remembered his debut. “I don’t think I had a very good game snapping the ball but that was a good wakeup because that was the first time a team every double-teamed the long snapper. They were hitting me pretty hard but that was a good welcome call to the college football world.”
Over the last three years, Hogue has been nearly perfect. Long snappers don’t have official snaps, but no one on the team seems to remember any glaring mistake made by the man entrusted with triggering the MSU special teams.
Montana State long snapper Rocky Hogue (56) with safety Bryson McCabe (10) & former running back Gunnar Brekke (2)/by Brooks Nuanez
In 2014, Hogue spent a good amount of time with former MSU kicker Luke Daly, himself a starter as a redshirt freshman that year, and former MSU punter Trevor Bolton, a lefty. The last two seasons, Hogue has mastered snapping to right-footed punters, whether its Daly or Padmos. He’s also spent plenty of time working with Peppenger and Devon Tandberg.
“Rocky has been a steadying influence in that group,” Choate said. “Gabe is more high-strung where as Jered and Rocky have more similar personalities. But Rocky is a guy who can say, ‘let’s get to work and be serious or this is the time we can relax and have fun.’ He does a great job of grounding that group.”
“I always think of those special teams guys as their own kind of group just because of who they are,” Bignell said. “Rocky knows that and he’s embraced that role. I think those guys help each other so much mentally because that’s such a mental position.”
Hogue is closing in on a degree in psychology. He will graduate in December. MSU special teams coordinator B.J. Robertson consistently encourages him to use his psychologist background when it comes to leading the specialists’ group. They keep a sports psychology book in Robertson’s office for review.
Hogue plans to stick around Bozeman in the spring and help with spring football. He hopes Choate and the coaching staff likes what they see and hopefully offer him a position as a graduate assistant. Coaching his craft and working with specialists at the collegiate level is Hogue’s ultimate goal, but before that, he will try to play football for as long as he can.
“I’m planning on doing the pro day and see if teams want to take a look at me,” Hogue said. “If not, I want to step into a coaching lane and stick around football as long as possible.”
Montana State long snapper Rocky Hogue (56)/by Brooks Nuanez
Although he has exclusively occupied one role during his time in Bozeman, Hogue has never let himself drift into thinking of himself as “just a long snapper.” Since Choate took over, Hogue has taken the team workout and conditioning portion of playing college football seriously. He has even produced statistically, notching eight tackles over the last two seasons, including six as a junior last season.
More than those tackles or the repetitions or strategizing on how to stay warm during early-morning November practices or getting to watch the games and intently cheer from the sidelines, it’s the relationships Hogue will remember the most.
“I won’t remember much of the practices or the games. This has been all about the guys I’ve met through the team and the community through football,” Hogue said. “The family we’ve build here is so special.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez and contributed. All Rights Reserved.
