SIU long-snapper Ryan Algrim planning a career as firefighter
- Tom Weber
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois long snapper Ryan Algrim sees similarities between his current job on the football team and his future occupation as a firefighter.
For starters, you have to be ready at a moment’s notice. A punt or field goal might take place a dozen times in a game or not at all. Likewise, a fireman never knows when he’ll be called into action.
More importantly, Algrim pointed out, is the preparation that goes into performing both positions.
“People may only see the one snap on the field, or the house on fire, but there’s hours of training that go into that one moment,” he explained.
The son of a retired firefighter, Algrim remembers hanging out with his dad, Greg Algrim, at the fire station when he was in middle school.
“Me and my sister would go eat dinner at the firehouse with my dad and the rest of the guys,” he said. “Those were a lot of fun times, sitting there at the table eating with them, but they'd get a call in the middle of dinner and they're gone. Me and my sister were just sitting in the fire station looking at each other like, now what?”
Algrim didn’t set out to be a long-snapper. In fact, the thought didn’t cross his mind until after he dislocated his kneecap playing baseball and had to sit out his freshman year at Kaneland High School. He watched teammate Dylan Calabrese, the team’s snapper at the time, earn a scholarship to Western Michigan.
“Watching Dylan showed me that a college scholarship is attainable if I put the work in,” said Algrim, who also played left guard and outside linebacker in high school.
Algrim teamed up with long-snapping expert Nolan Owen to learn the art of snapping, and his parents took him to camps throughout the country, including trips to California, Nevada, Texas and Tennessee.
After a camp at Lindenwood University, scouting service Rubio Long Snapping ranked Algrim as a five-star prospect and the No. 16 snapper in the country, leading him to sign with Minnesota. He was the backup snapper for the Golden Gophers for two seasons, traveling with the team to road games.
Algrim went into the transfer portal following the 2024 season, and SIU special teams coach Nathan Frame quickly scooped him up for the Salukis.
“It was a pretty short portal adventure for me,” Algrim said. “My snapping coach knows Coach Frame, because he also trained Ross Pedro, the former long snapper here. He knew I was looking to go somewhere and play right away and it was a great fit for me, and it's a great fit for me academically, too, with SIU’s public safety management program.”
Algrim started every game for the Salukis in 2025 and was deadly accurate with his snaps. His speed was also impressive.
“I was averaging around 0.72 to 0.74 seconds on getting the ball to the punter,” he said. “Speed and location are huge. If we're punting to the right, I want to put it on the punter’s right hip. And it’s a little like being quarterback in that we don't want to throw a duck, either. We want to make sure the spiral's clean.”
The key to staying ready during a game is to take frequent mental reps, Algrim explained.
“I kind of picture myself in different situations — how I see the snap going and then picturing the coverage or blocking,” he said. “So when it comes time to do it, I've done it in my head plenty of times and I’m ready to go out there and attack it.”
Algrim said SIU’s specialists are a tight-knit unit that is building chemistry one rep at a time.
“We have a great bond on and off the field,” he said. “Me and (holder) Jace (Clark) are going into our second year together, and he knows where I'm going to snap the ball, and I know how he's going to hold it.”
Only a junior at Southern Illinois, Algrim still has two seasons left to snap, but he’s already thinking about his future as a firefighter.
“It’s a job where you’re helping people out on their worst day,” he said. “It’s a physically challenging occupation. You’re wearing the heavy gear going in, cutting through buildings, cutting cars up. My dad did grain-bin rescues where he had to pull people out that got stuck in a grain bin. You gotta be ready to help people.”
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Temps were in the 40s at the beginning of practice early this morning, but warmed up nicely as the sun came up. Practice No. 11 of spring ball took place in full pads, but there was no live tackling in 11-on-11, as the team preps for its next live scrimmage on Friday night at Marion High School.