But ask who's the greatest long snapper of all time and you'll mostly get blank stares.

``I wouldn't know,'' Bucs tight end Ken Dilger said.

``That's a tough one,'' Coach Jon Gruden said.

Long snappers such as Ryan Benjamin know. They keep tabs on their own but know not many others do.

``We're a tight-knit group, and we all generally know each other and we know who some of the top long snappers are,'' Benjamin said. ``If you ask the general population about long snappers, a lot of them would probably have a hard time even naming one that's playing right now.''

Benjamin, a River Ridge High and USF product, made his Bucs debut Sunday against Philadelphia. He was signed to a one-year contract Oct. 14 after the Bucs released Morris Unutoa, who had problems snapping the ball.

``The kid [Benjamin] did a real good job,'' punter and holder Tom Tupa said. ``He put them back there where it had to be. I see things only getting better for him from here on out.''

Benjamin learned to long snap in middle school. He excelled as a defensive tackle at River Ridge, earning all-conference honors, and walked on at USF, where he was encouraged to focus on long snapping.

``If I didn't have long snapping on my resume,'' Benjamin said, ``then definitely my career wouldn't have gotten as far as it has.''

Benjamin also realizes the media attention he's received as a Buc is mostly because of his local ties. Long snappers, he said, usually don't get recognized until they make a mistake.

``Generally, the less people know about you, the better you're doing,'' he said. ``If somebody does find out who you are, that you're the long snapper of a certain team, it's probably because you've had a bad snap. If you do your job right, very rarely do you get any exposure.''

Kevin Gold is trying to change that. Gold, a Harrisburg, Pa., attorney, represents several NFL long snappers, including Benjamin. He also operates longsnap.com, a Web site dedicated to the art of long snapping, which includes tips on snapping and updates about snappers in the league.

It's unusual to devote that much attention to such an obscure position, considering how most kids focus on playing the more high-profile positions.

``Most guys are more interested in becoming the starting guard or the starting center or tight end or running back,'' said Gruden, who eventually identified former Green Bay and Cincinnati long snapper Blair Bush as the greatest because he did it for nearly 20 years. ``Not a lot of guys snap between their legs for a living. I admire those guys, though. Those guys sure are important.''

The Bucs would know. They learned just how critical the position is when they lost one long snapper, Mike Solwold, to injury this year and had another, Unutoa, botch a couple of snaps in the Oct. 13 Cleveland game. Tampa Bay has changed long snappers five times in the past three seasons, three times this year, lending credence to the nomadic lifestyle of those who play the position.

``A lot of times a long snapper will do a little bit of bouncing around until he finds a team and finds a spot for him to stay for a little bit,'' said Benjamin, who went from Tampa Bay to Chicago to New England and then back to Tampa Bay. ``If he does well, hopefully he'll get the job for a while. That's the nature of the position.''

Benjamin would love to see the day when the long snapper is just as popular as other positions on the team, when long snappers' jerseys are flying off the shelves.

``That would be great, but realistically, I don't see it happening,'' Benjamin said. ``I think it might weird me out if I were walking through the mall and I saw someone wearing my jersey and I didn't know them. I check the stores all the time, and my jersey is never in there. I just figure it's all sold out.''