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The University of Mississippi Athletics
The Center Of Attention
9/4/2002 | Football
Sept. 4, 2002
By Will Bardwell
Sports Information Student Assistant
Many athletes enjoy the limelight, but there are a few who try their best to stay out of it. Ole Miss senior long-snapper A.J. Kiamie knows that if the spotlight falls on him, something has gone wrong and he's probably to blame.
"You're not like another player that messes up one play and gets to try to make it up the very next play," said the 6-foot-3 1/2, 270-pound Kiamie. "If you mess up one, you've got at least five minutes to go back to the sidelines and think about what you did wrong."
An Oxford, Miss., native and lifelong Ole Miss football fan, Kiamie has made an ironic career out of going largely unnoticed through striving for perfection at his position.
Kiamie's road to avoiding the spotlight began during his days at Oxford High School when then Rebel long-snapper David Vinson, another Oxford native, worked with him.
"David started teaching me how to snap during the summer of my sophomore year of high school," said Kiamie, who has played in all 23 games the past two seasons. "We worked at it all summer. He taught me the philosophy and exactly how to snap, and I've been working at it ever since."
Working at it takes more work than what most people think. Kiamie snapped everyday that summer, and even as recently as this past summer, he practiced snapping at least twice per week.
Kiamie said his job requires complete concentration every time he steps on the field, and that even a play as standard as an extra point presents several challenges.
"Extra points are all about timing," said Kiamie. "We're trying to get the kick off in 1.2 seconds or less. If we don't do that, the defense will block it from the corners. And, you have to keep low in the middle or they'll get a seam and they'll block the kick."
Roger Wilson, a Rebel graduate assistant coach who works with Kiamie, said Kiamie's focus is one of his greatest assets.
"For long-snappers, there's no margin for error," said Wilson. "A.J. has a set time and he knows where it has to be. It can't be right, left, up or down. He knows where it has to be, and it has to be there every time."
Ole Miss head coach David Cutcliffe said Kiamie's diligence to his job makes him a leader from a position that sometimes receives little attention.
"A.J. is a veteran and, I think, the best deep snapper in the SEC," said Cutcliffe. "Every time he does his job, it's a critical situation. On special teams, every play is a series within itself. For us, it all begins with A.J. Kiamie on punts, field goals and extra points."
Kiamie's focus and diligence the past two years as the starting long-snapper has helped the Ole Miss kicking game continue to improve. The Rebels have had only two blocked kicks in 214 attempts (punts, field goals and extra points) over the last two seasons, including none in 2001. With the two-year letterwinner at the controls, Rebel kickers have hit 84-of-88 PATs the last two years. Despite that success, Kiamie still strives to just do the best he possibly can.
"I'm trying to be the best in the nation every time I go out there," said Kiamie, whose father (Alex Jr.), mother (Peggy) and two sisters (Kim and Dorothy) all attended Ole Miss. "I'm probably not going to be the biggest guy out there, so I try to take pride in what I can do. I've got the skill to snap, so I try to do the best that I can do."
