Story Links
Sept. 16, 2006
by Kyle Rudzinski
Student Assistant, UVa Athletics Media Relations
It’s a fact- football players like to eat. The nature of the game demands larger-than-life athletes, and to get big they need to consume massive amounts of food. With the number of 300-plus pound linemen in college growing annually, it’s rare to see players trying to drop weight despite being in game shape.
The Cavaliers’ Jason Snelling is one of these rarities.
This season fans will notice Snelling lining up at tailback rather than fullback–a position in which he excelled over the last three years. He led all ACC fullbacks in total yards each of the last two seasons and was fourth in the conference in yard per carry (5.6). However, since last spring Snelling has shed about 15 pounds in order to make the transition to tailback.
Head coach Al Groh believes Snelling’s move to tailback will be a positive one.
“Snelling is effective at moving the ball, whether we’ve given it to him or thrown it to him. He’s not your garden-variety battering-ram fullback [anymore], who gets the ball twice during the course of the season,” Groh said. “As such, in recognizing what his skills are, while he does do a good job at those conventional fullback tasks, we’ve tried to make sure he has gotten some background at tailback, so we can also utilize his running skills.”
In a nation that super-sizes almost everything, many have trouble dropping as much weight as the fifth-year senior has, but for Snelling there was ample motivation.
“The weight loss makes me feel more explosive, quicker,” revealed the 233-pound back.
Since Groh plans to utilize him to carry the ball this season rather than as a blocking, Snelling changed his figure to fit the bill.
“It wasn’t too bad losing the weight. I just stayed away from certain foods, changed my diet and began exercising more,” said Snelling, who received his degree in anthropology last May.
While altering his diet, Snelling continued to cook for himself–as well as for his friends and teammates, most notably his roommate Jermaine Dias.”I’ve always cooked for my roommates, and I’ve never had any complaints about what I make,” Snelling said. “`D’ enjoys my food. He’s always asking me to cook for him.”
Snelling credits his prowess in the kitchen to his mother, Lillian.”I learned to cook from my mom,” Snelling said. “Growing up I had my brothers to cook for and practiced some at home.”
Though he spent his youth in New Jersey, the Southern palate has since grown on him.
“I’m more accustomed to cooking Southern dishes, probably because that’s the type of food I enjoy more.”
Throughout the fall, the football team will eat dinner at the new dining hall in John Paul Jones Arena, providing a nightly reprieve from cooking for the Chester, Va., native. The 350-seat refectory–complete with eight flat screen TVs as well as a full-time nutritionist and chef–will be the site of dinners not only for the football team, but also for all student-athletes with a meal plan.
Snelling welcomes the shift from catered dinners in trailers outside of U-Hall to the new location.
“The place is the greatest facility; you can’t beat it,” he said. “The whole environment is nice. There’s a lot more space and it’s a good spot for athletes and their teams to get together.”
Although preparing palatable comestibles began as a mere hobby for Snelling, he hopes to continue to improve his culinary dexterity.”Cooking has been a real interest of mine and I will keep pursuing it,” Snelling shared.
Plans to become a full-time chef may be put on hold after this season as Snelling strives to make the jump to the National Football League.
Yet, his passion for cuisine wouldn’t stop after the potential transition to professional football.
“If I get the opportunity financially to open a restaurant, it would be one of the first business things I do,” Snelling said.
In the meantime, as a key ingredient to the Cavalier offense, Jason Snelling will help cook up some wins.