The Senior Bowl has announced its first wave of accepted invitations this week and in line with Veteran’s Day, one of the players that has accepted an invitation is from one of the service academies. Joe Cardona will represent the Navy Midshipmen in Mobile as one of the long snappers. While extremely unlikely to be drafted (Ryan Pontbriand not withstanding), Cardona has been one of the nation’s snappers and could have a future playing on Sundays in the NFL.
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The California born Cardona has been the long snapper for the Naval Academy all four years in his career and is only the second freshman in the program’s storied history to start the year long snapping. His training regimen may be an indication that he is thinking about a future in pro football as he reportedly put on nearly 20lbs from last year to get bigger.
It is unclear at this point if Cardona will have to fulfill his enlistment right after college or if it will be postponed so he can pursue a career in professional football. Regardless of what Cardona plans to do after football, it is certainly refreshing to see a player from one of the service academies get to enjoy the All-Star venue that is the Senior Bowl and be able to enjoy the fanfare that comes with it.