McKinney, Texas — The clock was ticking down toward halftime as McKinney High lined up for a 47-yard field goal.

Before the holder could place the ball and before the kicker could swing his leg, the play had to start with senior long snapper Eli Presley.

Presley put his hands on the football, went through the same technique he had practiced hundreds of times and fired the snap back to the holder.

Snap. Hold. Kick.

The kick is good.

The crowd goes crazy for the 47-yard field goal, and they are cheering for the kicker.  Meanwhile Presley gives the kicker a high five and heads back to the sideline.

That's life as a long snapper.

Presley is in his third season as McKinney's varsity long snapper, playing perhaps one of football's most specialized and least-noticed positions. A long snapper is the person who snaps the start for the play for every punt, field goal and extra point. On punts, he snaps the football roughly 14 yards to the punter and then immediately becomes part of the punt coverage team. On field goals and extra points, he delivers a shorter, precise laces up snap to the holder.

When everything goes right, few people notice.

Through McKinney's first six games this season, Presley has snapped over 50 competitive snaps. He also recorded four tackles and caused a fumble on punt coverage.  In all of those, very few people noticed, and he is good with that.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior started as a linebacker early in his football career but has developed into a good long-snapping prospect looking for a chance to snap in college.  He is ranked among the top 10 long snappers in the country for the Class of 2027 by Kornblue, a highly sought after special team academy.

Presley has also found ways to bring some personality to the position. Over the summer he started counting down to his senior year through Instagram at @eli.longsnaps, he posts trick snaps, challenges and funny videos centered around long snapping. For one of them he literally snapped under water.  He has mastered the skill of snapping both on the field but also wherever he is called on to snap.  Behind all the fun are years of individual training, camps, competitions and thousands of practice snaps.

Long snapping has also taught Presley how to lead from behind.

As one of the experienced members of McKinney's special teams unit, Presley has taken on a leadership role within the group. He has even taken time in practice to help and personally train the two long snappers behind him, passing along what he has learned and helping prepare them for their own opportunities.

It's a fitting kind of leadership for a position that rarely gets much attention.

Presley is also succeeding in the classroom while staying involved in leadership, service, his church and the McKinney community. He hopes to eventually be able to suit up and long snap at the college level.

For now, his role remains the same.

Be dependable. Do your job. Help the people around you succeed. Let the kicker get the cheers.

Then get ready for the next snap.