When you go to a football game at any level, there is one player who absolutely wants to avoid attention and that’s the team’s long snapper.

    As the long snapper for the last three years for the Campolindo varsity football team, Giancarlo “Coco” Cereghino, avoided being noticed by not having a single bad long snap. He was however noticed enough to be named the first team long snapper for The Sporting News’ High School all-American team. “I learned that I made the All-American when my Athletic Director, Ray Meadows, showed me the email he received letting him know.”

    As a 110-pound freshman safety, Cereghino had been injured and had to wear a back brace, sitting out the first couple of games. “I saw someone long snapping, and I gave it a try and found I had some raw talent to do it. Coach (Mike) Ahr saw me from across the way and we began working together on it and the rest is history.”

    Ahr became more than a coach to Cereghino: “Mike is the best coach I could ever ask for. He’s helped me more than I could ever imagine and has been a role model and stable point for me.”

    Ahr appreciated how Cereghino was more than just an athlete: “Coco’s a great kid on and off the field and in the community. He’s a solid man of faith who has helped our players and other players away from Campo.”

    With the intention of eventually playing college football, Cereghino worked hard and got his weight up to 190 pounds as a defensive end on the JV team but was soon called up to the varsity to become the team’s long snapper: “I felt I had the talent as a long snapper and had a future with it if I worked hard at it. When I was brought up to the varsity, I wasn’t going to play defensive end and I began snapping exclusively.”

    Cereghino did play defensive end on the scout team but not in any games. “My twin brother Dylan was a linebacker and also was a punter so I was able to snap to him.”

    Learning to deep snap is like shooting a free throw. You have to be willing to work on the form and master it. Cereghino took that to heart and saw that consistency was the key to being a good snapper: “If you can snap the ball once, that’s great but let’s see if you can do it 100 times over and over again and then being able to transition to blocking and holding your own at the line of scrimmage. Snap speed is very important and it all revolves around how many hours you can put in and how disciplined you can be through high school.”

    Cereghino went to a number of special teams camps and the last two years he went to Kohl’s Professional Kicking Camp and averaged 6.6 to 6.5 seconds on his snaps. Cereghino also learned how important the mental aspect of snapping is at the camps: “It encapsulates how well you can do when you don’t have your best snap. If you overthink it and ponder about that bad snap, that next snap will also be bad because your mental game isn't on point. I was ranked number one in the nation on 24/7 sports and number two on Kohl’s.”

    Though Campolindo head coach Kevin Macy was not his position coach, Cereghino spoke highly of their relationship: “[Coach Macy] always helped and supported me, understanding that I had a very specialized position, letting me do my thing. He made it a point to introduce me along with my teammates like Sean Parker, Micah Parker and Crosby Kelly to the visiting coaches who were recruiting for their colleges.”

    Cereghino had offers from Alabama, California, Tennessee, and Georgia but ultimately committed to accept a scholarship from UCLA. “I was able to graduate early from Campolindo and began at UCLA just after the new year. The school has great academics and I feel that the football team is going to be on the rise under our new head coach Bob Chesney. It’s a great opportunity to go to the number one public university in the country and I can stay close to home.”