Jake Olson, USC's blind long snapper, just completed his second career snap in a live game: pic.twitter.com/Kz4q6TujUs
— Keely Eure (@keelyismyname) October 7, 2017
One of the best sports stories of 2017 was Jake Olson, a blind long snapper for USC, getting some real live game action this season for the Trojans and delivering two snaps on extra points. It was a story that goes all the way back to the Pete Carroll days at USC and finally paid off this season when Jake finally got on the field in a live game.
And if that story isn’t inspiring enough, Jake is also here to make you feel terrible about your golf swing because not only can he snap a football on the money, but he can absolutely SMASH golf balls into outer space too.
Reminder: he’s blind.
USC blind long snapper @JakeOlson61 never ceases to amaze. #FightOn pic.twitter.com/Qo7Q4Wr9Hp
— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) December 28, 2017
Next time you want to whine about your swing, or your clubs, or anything else that you can make an excuse for not hitting the ball well, just remember that a blind kid can put balls on the moon.
Apparently, before Jake got into the long snapping game, his original sport was actually golf. Even before he became blind, the kid was lighting it up on the golf course. This was from a Golf Digest profile back in 2015:
As for golf, “going blind was a setback,” he said.
It would seem so. But it was more than that. A substantial growth spurt, six inches, was a major contributing factor to his inability to unite the center of the clubface with the golf ball. “Probably for a good six months to a year I was trying to make consistent solid contact on the ball,” he said. “There had been days that were total frustration, throwing clubs, not seeing results, just frustrating. But I wasn’t going to let it stop me.
“Now, five-and-a-half years later, it’s gotten to the point that the things I struggle with are things that any other golfer struggles with — fine tuning my swing and repeating the same swing.”
His father Brian flatly said, “he plays better golf now than before he lost his sight.”
