Injury gives Jaguars starting nose tackle chance to fill in at long snapper

By Canadian Press on November 30, 2025.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — DaVon Hamilton has been practicing as a long snapper throughout his six seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars to be ready if needed.

On Sunday, the starting nose tackle finally got his chance to snap in an NFL regular-season game.

Long snapper Ross Matiscik hurt his back in the first quarter enough to leave the game. Hamilton came in and snapped on an extra point, a 45-yard field goal by Cam Little and three punts before Matiscik returned in the third quarter as the Jaguars beat Tennessee 25-3.

“That was very exciting,” Hamilton said. “Definitely not something I want to do on a day-to-day basis. I’m going to leave this to Ross. But it was fun. It was definitely a dream that came true today.”

Hamilton certainly has the size to help protect a punter at 6-foot-4 and 335 pounds. His defensive prowess is why the Jaguars drafted him out of Ohio State with the 73rd pick overall in 2020. Hamilton said he had been reminding special teams coaches he can long snap when needed since he entered the league.

When told to get ready to long snap against the Titans, Hamilton said he was a little confused at first.

Defensive end Josh Hines-Allen said he’s been watching Hamilton snap since arriving in Jacksonville.

“He finally had that opportunity to go out there and maximize from it,” Hines-Allen said. “It was awesome to see.”

Matiscik said Hamilton did a great job as the fill-in long snapper. He kept thanking his teammate in the second half for having his back.

“That’s a tough job,” Matiscik said. “I think if you ask any snapper in the league or anybody that’s done it, they’ll say the same thing. There’s some nerves involved. Protecting’s hard, but he did phenomenal. I’m really proud of him.”

Punter Logan Cooke wasn’t even sure if he had worked with Hamilton much this year outside of a little bit during training camp. He said they randomly did a couple of snaps throughout last year. Hamilton wearing gloves with his wrists taped makes a tough job even harder.

“For him just to get the ball in there, a backup snapper to get the ball in the vicinity of where you want it is all you can ask for,” said Cooke, who holds on field goals. “He killed it. Field goal snaps honestly is harder because you have a little less room for error and he killed it, he did great. D-Ham, he’s a stud.”

Hamilton wasn’t as effusive reviewing his fill-in work except to say he thought he did “pretty good.”

“I’ll take it,” Hamilton said.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Teresa M. Walker, The Associated Press

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