DGS Alum Andy Schulze Attempting to Make NFL Roster

DGS alum Andrew Schulze is making a go at pro football.

Schulze, of Woodridge, graduated from in 2006.

He signed a contract with the Atlanta Falcons as a rookie undrafted free agent in July and has been in Flowery Branch, Ga., ever since, attempting to make the regular season roster as a long snapper.

This comes after Schulze spent four years playing at the University of Iowa, where he walked on in 2006 and redshirted before playing the next four years.

That chance, and his opportunity now with the Falcons, was almost for naught as Schulze said he almost gave up football after high school.

“I kind of thought I was done playing football because I didn’t want to go to a small school and play tight end,” said Schulze. “The University of Iowa coach was walking through and had mentioned that they needed a long snapper, and I had long snapped in high school.”

Schulze and Downers Grove South head coach John Belskis put together a tape of Schulze’s long snapping abilities which got Schulze an invitation to walk on at Iowa.

Schulze made the team but had a lot of work ahead of him before he reached the field.

“When I got to Iowa I was still an undersized guy,” said Schulze. “But I had a lot of time to work in the weight room and I was lucky enough to be around good coaches that kind of helped fine tune long snapping.”

Schulze fine tuned his abilities enough to be an integral part of the special teams effort at Iowa, and got a call from his agent in July who told him to pack his bags for Atlanta to try out.

Prior to that call, Schulze had been back on campus at Iowa, preparing.

“There was a group of probably 12 of us who worked out all winter long then all summer long just waiting for this thing (the NFL Lockout) to end,” said Schulze. “Lucky at Iowa we had a great strength coach, Chris Doyle, and coach (Kirk) Ferentz lets us stay there. All the coaches were more than happy to help us – they let us stay there and train there.”

Now after two weeks in an NFL training camp, Schulze thinks there are some differences with the step to the pros.

“Guys like Joe (Zalenka), who’s been around for a long time,” Schulze said are a big help to a rookie like him in training camp. “Right now I’m just trying to sit behind him and watch him and learn as much as I can from him right now. It’s the same thing as going from high school to college, it’s just that going from college to the pros, it’s a lot quicker, it’s a lot faster. I’m lucky to have a veteran like that out there to show me the ropes.”

Since most teams don’t carry two long snappers on the regular season roster, it’s going to be an uphill battle for Schulze to make the regular season roster. But that’s OK for the Woodridge native, who landed just in the right spot for his desires.

“Atlanta was the team that I wanted to go to.”