Robert Soderholm III is looking to make history by hearing his name called in the NFL Draft to cap off a fascinating story.
A high school linebacker, Soderholm took a military scholarship to the Virginia Military Institute, where he spotted an opportunity to walk-on as a long snapper and keep his dream of playing in the NFL alive. Fast forward five years and he’s hoping to hear his name called in the later rounds as one of the two stand-out prospects in the specialist position.
“It’d mean the world to me,” Soderholm says. “Every kid dreams about that, you know? Every kid that loves football, basketball, baseball, whatever it is, you always dream of hearing your name called on Draft Day.
“It’d be nothing short of a dream come true, but I’ve got to be aware that’s just making it to the team, not necessarily making the team. I’m aware I’m going to have to get right back to work as soon as I have my little hurrah and my little moment.”
It’s fair to say the odds are stacked firmly against Soderholm. Not only does he play a position not traditionally featured on too many draft boards, he’s also coming from a small school that hasn’t had a player drafted since 1989.
He already made history by becoming just the fifth VMI Keydets player to be invited to the Senior Bowl, now he’s looking to end their 34-year wait to produce an NFL Draft pick.
“I’m only one of five guys from VMI to ever go to the Senior Bowl,” he says. “In the 200-something years that place has been around, I’m one of only five guys so coming out of a small school, I was proud to be representing my school and sort of putting them on the map."
Soderholm was ready to give up on his football dream and focus on a military career when he arrived at VMI. But he quickly came to a realisation that he might just be in a perfect place to carve out a role that could take him to the next level.
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“I was offered really late,” he recalls. “Out of high school, I was already giving up on my dream of even playing college football.
“I didn’t have any good Division II offers at linebacker, and no Division I’s. I’d been playing long snapper just because when I was young I played center, and center was always the long snapper.
“But it was literally the middle of the spring, so I’d already been accepted to schools I thought I might go to where I thought I might not play football. I was already going to VMI, saying I’d do the military thing, and it wasn’t until the end of the spring semester that I was offered the opportunity to play football for them (as a walk-on).
“I was like, ‘oh, dang, I’d better keep practising then’, so I got right back on the horse. Then I actually realised something very quickly, before I’d even played football for them. I found out they run a pro style scheme where the snapper is responsible for snapping and blocking, which gives me a huge advantage.
“All the other long snappers in my draft class, and a lot in previous draft classes, have not truly snapped and blocked, and that’s the most difficult thing in that position.
“And I thought to myself, ‘we’re not necessarily the best school, so I’ll get a lot of film as a snapper because we’re going to punt a bunch’. I think we tied the FCS record for the most punts in a game this last season, like 10 punts in one game, which is ridiculous.
“I’d be happy if I got into a game 10 times, and I got into the game like 12 times that game, it was ridiculous. But I got into that programme, and I knew what I wanted for myself.”
Soderholm is not your average long snapper. He’s a self-confessed gym rat who is strong, athletic and puts up some impressive numbers in the weight room. He prides himself on being the ‘world’s strongest long snapper’ and boasts a 406lb power clean to prove it.
“I wanted to be able to say that I was stronger than Saquon Barkley,” he says, “In comparison, overall I’m nowhere near him because he just did that off rip, but when I did that lift, I did it to see if I was capable of doing it.
“My bench press, the most I’ve ever done is 405lbs for two reps. My back squat, I would say near 600-620lbs range. I’ve done 575 for multiple reps, so probably around 615lbs.
“The most I’ve ever deadlifted, I did a hex bar deadlift that was almost 900lbs, but sumo deadlift I’m breaking 700lbs and strict bar I’m like 665lbs, something like that.
“I like the gym, I enjoy the gym, and I also feel like the traditional stereotype of long snappers is they’re unathletic and slow. I put up 9 reps on 315lbs bench this week. My reps on 225 bench at my Pro Day was 27, so I think I’m showing we can be athletic as well.”
Despite chasing his NFL dream, Soderholm is also a 2nd lieutenant in the US Army and is determined to keep his military service going.
“It’s important to me,” he says. “When you come out of Virginia Military Institute, you do not have to commission into the US Army. You can choose if you want to pursue a commission, but you do not have to.
“Because I came in on the three-year RGC scholarship, it would’ve been relatively easy for me in my senior year, when I realised the NFL was starting to become a reality, to just give up my RGC scholarship.
“But a member of the Soderholm family has served in the military all the way since World War One, and so because of that I find it very important. I feel like it’s a family tradition and an obligation to do that.
“My grandfather and my uncles, they all respect it because they understand what I’m trying to do in combination with professional athletics is very difficult. The army has actually been very understanding.
“They’ll let me get my entire reserve requirement for the army done in the off season so I don’t have to worry about not being able to play a game in the middle of the season because you have to run a drill.
“Them doing that, and making it so that it fits into the off-season and never impacts anything has just been super helpful.
“If worst came to worst and I had to pick one, I think we all know which way I would lean. You can’t pass up millions of dollars to throw a ball between your legs! But at the end of the day, I’m very blessed to be able to say I have the opportunity to do both.”
If Soderholm does get that opportunity this week, it will mark the culmination of a unique and determined journey to fulfil his dream of playing in the NFL.
