For UB quarterback Cole Snyder, the secret's in the work

At meetings with the University at Buffalo football team, the quarterback from Southwestern High School always sat in the front row. Whenever Snyder opened his iPad, he pointed out diagrams of plays in UB’s no-huddle offense, and asked lots of questions, then took copious notes about formations and schemes.

Linguist, who is in his first full spring as UB’s football coach, noticed both the frequency and the consistency of everything Snyder did. Snyder, Linguist said, was locked in and mentally engaged.

“The quarterback position is, probably, the single-most important position, I believe, in all of sports,” Linguist said. “It’s really the epicenter of everything your building is about. Without that spot, it’s very hard to win in this game. His daily approach is very veteran, an older-mindset approach that I just really am pleased with how he is handling himself right now.”

Snyder brings experience in a Big Ten program to UB’s quarterback group after he joined the Bulls in January as a mid-year transfer. After three seasons at Rutgers, Snyder is one of four players competing for the starting spot vacated after Kyle Vantrease transferred from UB to Georgia Southern in January.

That diligence that Linguist noted? It is part of what Snyder dubs his “secret sauce.” Unlike executives at Coca-Cola or Heinz, companies that won’t divulge the ingredients in their famous goods, he’s willing to give away some of the recipe.

“It’s all the extra time that no one sees,” Snyder said. “That’s my secret sauce.”

It’s time he spends watching film, working in the weight room or getting treatment after a workout.

He joins a quarterbacks group that includes Matt Myers, Casey Case and Brian Plummer as he transitions into UB's no-huddle offense.

“I’m a throw-first guy, and I’ll run if I have to, because I can definitely use my legs to extend plays and scramble,” said Snyder, a 2019 Southwestern graduate. "Coming here has been a pretty smooth transition, trying to translate the play calls, and make everything familiar. But it’s been a smooth transition, having that experience.”

It’s too soon to say if Snyder or another UB quarterback has a leg up on the competition for the starting position. While there is competition brewing for the spot, the starter won’t be decided until August during preseason camp.

“Everybody in the room, regardless of whether it was last year or this year, I think there’s a little more competition this year,” said Myers, who was 56 for 103 passing for 703 yards and four touchdowns, and was intercepted five times in 2021. “With a couple departures, it’s different, and there’s not a lot of familiar faces, so you’ve got to get to know them in the locker room, as well as on the field, and be the best teammate you can be, and compete your butt off every day.”

Snyder sees that developing as UB is in its final two weeks of spring practices, which conclude with the spring game at 1 p.m. April 30 at UB Stadium.

“Coach (Linguist) said it’s going to be an open competition, and that’s what it’s been, so far,” Snyder said. “All the quarterbacks are doing great, and I think the quarterbacks room is going to be very solid come this season.”

Snyder and Myers – both former All-Western New York selections – have the most college experience among UB’s quarterbacks. Snyder played in nine games and completed 21 of 31 passes for 165 yards with one touchdown in three seasons at Rutgers. In six games in 2021, he completed 18 of 28 passes for 130 yards and one touchdown.

At Southwestern, former Trojans assistant John Kinder saw the athletic tools Snyder possessed, even as a freshman. That relationship has continued into Snyder’s college career.

“He wanted a fair shake, and he wanted an opportunity to be someone’s starter,” Kinder told the News in December after Snyder announced his transfer to UB. “Knowing Cole, and knowing our conversations, he works hard at everything and takes pride in the process.”

Kinder, now a private quarterbacks coach based in Jamestown, continued to work with Snyder as he absorbed more details of being a quarterback at the college level.

They worked on Snyder’s sequences during the pre-snap and post-snap processes: all the information that Snyder takes in from the time he breaks a huddle, quickly evaluates a defense from its offensive line to its secondary, calls a play, takes a snap from center, and releases the football as a handoff or a pass.  

The defense, Kinder explained, is designed to trick a quarterback, and Snyder has learned how to make decisions in the span of seconds to confirm or refute the information he processes prior to each snap.

“He has a lot of tools in his toolbelt, and he’s added to that,” said Kinder, a former Syracuse and Stony Brook quarterback. “The most glaring thing he picked up at Rutgers is that he’s become more of a running threat and more fluid in his movement, and all that adds value to him as a passer. He can put more velocity and more movement on the ball.”

Kinder also saw in Snyder what Linguist sees, how Snyder applies himself in film sessions, how he takes care of himself and how he approaches football.

“I’ve always been like that,” said Snyder, who is majoring in economics. “I’ve always had big dreams and I knew it was going to take hard work. And that’s all I did, work as hard as humanly possible as I could to accomplish those goals. And that’s all I knew how to do.”

That’s no secret for Snyder.