Long snnapper Tanner Purdum took the long route to his current profession with the New York Jets. 

A former high school quarterback at Midway High School in Waco, Texas, and at Baker University in Kansas, Purdum found his way to being the Jets' long snapper thanks to pure luck.

“You go to an NAIA school and you know you’re not playing in the NFL as a quarterback," he said.

But with his pedigree, he should have known long snapping was the way to go. 

Purdum’s father was a long-snapper at Missouri Valley College and prior to that, Purdum’s grandfather had been a long snapper at Northeastern Oklahoma. Neither made it to the professional ranks, but with a little luck the youngest Purdum did.

Just before the start of his senior year at Baker, Purdum and his then girlfriend (now wife), Kara, attended a Kansas City Chiefs game with some friends. Two people in the group were former punters, Kelly Goodburn who had played in college with Kara’s father, and former Jets punter Louie Aguiar (1991 – 1993).

While tailgating before the game, Purdum and his group were in the parking playing catch and chatting about football. Aguiar and Goodburn started to discuss which one of them could punt the farthest. Figuring the best way to answer the question was to actually punt the ball, Aguiar pressed Purdum into service as their snapper.

“I looked at him and said, ‘I’m wearing jeans and you want me to snap here?’” Purdum said.  Aguiar said yes. Purdum snapped a perfect spiral, putting the ball right into Aguiar’s belt.

“[Aguiar] was surprised,” Purdum said. “Then he said, ‘If you put 50 pounds on you can snap in the league, I promise you.’”

Purdum didn't take Aguiar serious.

Following his graduation from Baker, Purdum went to work as substitute teacher and served as assistant coach at Baker. With his coach’s blessing, he put together DVDs to send out to teams. He also attended a pro camp run by Aguiar, and got a few tryouts off his effort.

Purdum eventually signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, but was cut in the preseason.

The Jets, who had heard about Purdum from Aguiar and had seen his tapes, were trying out a punter and needed a long snapper. Former long snapper James Dearth was a free agent, so the Jets called Purdum and flew him in to help out.

“They kept me instead of the punter,” Purdum said.

That was 2010 and Purdum has played every game for the Jets ever since.

In case anyone’s interested, the former NAIA quarterback can still throw a 70-yard pass.

Stay dialed in on the New York Jets by following correspondent Lisa Zimmerman on Twitter @CBSJets and @LisaZimmerman.