Mowrey’s snap decision has turned out to be special for Warriors

The final days of the NCAA transfer portal were a daze for University of Hawaii special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield.

The Warriors’ 2024 long snappers — Solomon Landrum and Hunter Higham — had left. A few potential candidates were out of the Warriors’ price range.

And then on April 25, the last day before the portal shut, James Madison long-snapper Jack “Big Cat” Mowrey submitted his notice.

“It was one of those things where I wasn’t necessarily sure I was going to do it,” Mowrey recalled. “I decided it was time for me to part ways (with James Madison). I actually entered the last day the portal was open. As soon as I entered, the first people to hit me up were Coach Sheffield and (UH head) Coach (Timmy) Chang.”

The next morning, Sheffield made a scholarship offer to Mowrey.

“I think I committed 10 minutes later,” Mowrey said. “I told him, ‘I’m ready to do this.’”

After arriving in June, Mowrey worked with holder Caleb Freeman and kicker Kansei Matsuzawa. There were early wrinkles in the snap-hold-kick connection.

“You can ask anyone, the operation did not look great during (training) camp,” Mowrey said. “It was good at times, but we were still figuring out the kinks.”

And then with 2:19 left in the first quarter of the season opener against Stanford, the point-after unit was summoned following Pofele Ashlock’s touchdown catch. Matsuzawa’s kick was true. And that was the trifecta’s aha! moment.

“We did the exact same thing we did a million times in practice,” Freeman said. “It’s like a basketball team. The more you play together, the more you figure out each other’s tendencies.”

Matsuzawa has not missed any of his 20 field-goal attempts and 23 PAT tries. Including punts, Mowrey has delivered perfect laces-up snaps all 75 times this season.

“Jack’s the unsung hero, he really is,” Sheffield said of Mowrey. “Without him being so consistent in his snaps, (punter) Billy (Gowers) and Kansei are not able to do what they’re doing. I’m very happy to have the Big Cat here.”

Big Cat?

“I looked at him and started calling him the ‘Big Cat’ for no reason,” Sheffield said. “He’s a big guy (6-3, 240). That was the first nickname that came to mind when I first saw him. I saw ‘Big Cat’ and I just went with it.”

Mowrey began snapping as a freshman at Ardey Kell High in Charlotte, N.C.

“It was a little side thing I started doing,” he said. “And I realized, maybe I”ll be pretty good at this.”

Mowrey attended several clinics and camps, where he snapped to targets at different heights and distances. “They time how fast you snap it, and how accurate you are,” said Mowrey, who at one point was regarded as the nation’s top high school snapper.

For Mowrey, snapping is an art and science. Mowrey had honed a two-handed grip that allows the football to roll off his fingers.

Unlike most NCAA holders, Freeman sets up eight yards from the line of scrimmage on point-scoring kicks, allowing the Warriors to fan the protection. Mowrey has figured his snaps have a quarter of rotation per half yard.

“I know how to put it right to Caleb so he’ll have the laces out,” Mowrey said.

In Manoa’s misty conditions, which adds weight to the football, Mowrey adjusts his grip. In two road games in Colorado’s high altitude, Mowrey modified his snaps to offset the thin air.

“I’m a math guy, and I don’t even understand it fully,” Freeman said of Mowrey’s calculations. “He tells me about it, but there’s a lot of science behind it. Jack’s really good. He makes it easy on me. I’m essentially catching it and putting it straight down for Kansei to kick it.”

Despite their diverse backgrounds — Mowrey is from North Carolina, Freeman from Texas, Matsuzawa from Chiba, Japan — they bond over pre-dawn kicking sessions and off-field activities.

“We cook,” Mowrey said. “Kansei brings the salmon. I bring my Cajun and Southern seasonings. You have to make sure you have a lot of cayenne pepper. That’s the secret. The trinity is the onions, the peppers and scallions. You put that together and it makes a mean combo. I learned from Stalekracker (a popular TikTok chef). Caleb brings the energy, the hungry stomach.”