His name won’t make the books, but a Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School graduate set a Super Bowl record earlier this month.
Chris Stoll, who played for the Stallions from 2014 to 2016, was the long snapper as Jason Myers kicked a record five field goals for the Seattle Seahawks in their 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday, Feb. 8 in Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Myers will be credited with the record, but he couldn’t have set it without five accurate snaps by Stoll.
DeSales head coach Ryan Wiggins said a chance remark by an assistant coach in Stoll’s sophomore year in high school put him on the path to receiving a Super Bowl ring 12 years later.
“Chris was a strong-looking kid who seemed like he’d be a good tight end and maybe play a little quarterback when he started with our junior varsity team,” Wiggins said. “One of our coaches said he ought to try being a long snapper because we needed one.
“Chris said he was willing to learn how to do it and was good enough that he was given a chance to try out as a walk-on when he went to college at Penn State.”
Stoll also started two games as a junior at quarerback for DeSales, but his biggest success there came in lacrosse, where he played the attacker position and was selected as a third-team All-Ohio player in Division II in his senior year.
“Chris was great to have as a teammate,” Wiggins said. “He always was positive, with a big smile on his face and a word of encouragement. I think anyone who was around him would say that.”
Stoll redshirted at Penn State for two years, began playing for the Nittany Lions in 2019 and in 2021 was nominated for the Burlsworth Trophy, awarded to the best Football Bowl Subdivision player who started as a walk-on. The next year, he won the Patrick Mannelly Award as the nation’s best long snapper.
He signed with the Seahawks for the 2023 season as an undrafted free agent and has been their long snapper for all 53 games they have played in the past three years.
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“I’m blessed to represent Penn State (and) represent a school that did everything for me,” Stoll told The Daily Collegian, Penn State’s student newspaper, in the week before the Super Bowl. “I got very lucky Seattle reached out after the draft, had a spot open and was able to do well enough to keep that spot.”
“Chris is the first DeSales player to be in the Super Bowl, and as a long snapper, he has the potential for a long career because so few play that position,” Wiggins said. “Teams generally keep only one long snapper, so it’s as rare as being a starting quarterback. There’s only 32 of both, and a good long snapper lasts longer than most starting quarterbacks.
“Chris joked to me after he got the job that the Seahawks probably kept hm because he was younger and had a cheaper contract than someone older. He figured he could stay with the team at least until they found someone younger and cheaper than him.”
Wiggins said Stoll’s parents live in Westerville and that he often stops at the school during the offseason to visit and for snapping practice, sometimes bringing other snappers and kickers with him. “All those guys have a tight bond because of the rarity of what they do,” he said. “They make it look so routine, but at that level you have to do the job with such precision because bad kicks can and have cost championships.”
Stoll’s Super Bowl victory enables him to join others in his family in claiming championships. His father won an Ohio Athletic Conference football title at Wittenberg, his wife was a three-time Big Ten Conference soccer champion at Penn State and his sister won an Ohio Athletic Conference track and field title at Otterbein.