Courtesy of Yale Football Media Team

As fall camp winds down and the football team prepares for its first game on Sept. 20, some players are settling into new roles for the first time in their college careers. 

The special teams unit, for example, experienced high roster turnover after last season. The specialists are the kicker, punter and long snapper. The three players work together to make sure the placekicking and punting operations run seamlessly. 

Two of these roles are being filled by players who have never started before: Rice transfer punter Reese Keeney ’28 and long snapper Joey Fortner ’27. With the departure of long snapper Ben Mann ’25 and punter Shamus Florio ’25 to Boston College last spring, both Keeney and Fortner have been forced to step into new roles. 

Returning kicker Nick Conforti ’26 is confident that Fortner is more than up to the task. 

“Joey has been great the past two years learning behind Ben,” Conforti said in an interview. “From what I’ve seen in practice, I’m very confident in his ability to go out there and deliver perfect snaps so that I can do my job.” 

Conforti returns for his senior campaign after going 42-42 on point-after attempts last season. Off the field, he has gained notoriety on campus in the past several months from his new sports podcast, “Niche to Notable.” 

For Keeney, the transition to Yale football has been seamless since joining the program last spring. 

“I spent the second half of my summer in New Haven for off-season workouts,” Keeney said. “It was awesome getting to know my teammates and getting more comfortable with my special teams unit.” 

Along with the three projected starters, the Yale coaching staff also added some position depth to their special teams unit in the offseason. Rice transfer long snapper Colby Connell ’28 and first-year kicker and punter Noah Piper ’29 joined the team and have been working to integrate themselves.  

“Our team takes a lot of pride in our special teams unit, and the new guys have been great additions,” Fortner wrote to the News. “It’s been great to have five guys in the specialist room, and we’ve been pushing each other a lot in practice.” 

In the locker room, the five-man Yale specialist unit is what many teammates have referred to as the “glue guys” on the team.  

Most notably, in last year’s 140th rendition of The Game between Harvard and Yale, special teams played a big role in Yale’s third consecutive victory. With just over two minutes to go, Conforti nailed a 36-yard field goal to seal the victory despite the Crimson’s last-ditch efforts. That not only required a gutsy kick, but also a perfect snap and clean hold. 

Conforti, Fortner, and the rest of the Yale football team will put on the pads next Saturday in the football team’s home opener against Holy Cross.