Even the most ardent supporters of Air Force football might not be familiar with the name Kurt Chesney.

That’s a good thing, his coach would argue.

“I think when you don’t recognize a snapper, that’s telling you something,” coach Troy Calhoun said of his senior long snapper, who has earned anonymity by flawlessly executing his role on punts, extra points and field goals while starting all 25 games over the past two seasons.

That work hasn’t gone overlooked within the program, however.

“I’ll tell you this, I think Kurt Chesney might be as good a long snapper as there is in college football,” Calhoun added.

Chesney’s success comes from a well-rounded background. The 6-foot, 205-pound Aliso Viejo, Calif., native led his high school (Aliso Niguel) in tackles as a junior and senior and was selected to play in the All-American Bowl. He also ran the 100-meter dash, competed in the long jump and threw the discus in track in addition to carrying a 4.40 grade-point average as class valedictorian and earning distinction as an Eagle Scout.

He thought that he’d leave some of the extra curriculars behind when arriving at the academy, but the opposite has been the case.

As chief of staff of squad, the evenings are usually consumed by three to four hours of responsibilities on top of homework.

“I think this place changes you and it makes you appreciate who surrounds you and the four years that we have here are a short time,” said Chesney, a cyber science major. “Being able to take advantage of that and see yourself help the most people succeed is really rewarding.

“It’s the same as down here, we’re trying to build a team back up on the hill.”

As a long snapper, Calhoun points to Chesney’s accuracy and velocity but also, as would be expected from Chesney’s success as a high school defender, what he brings in coverage.

“No. 49 has to be accounted for in coverage just because of how well he gets down the field,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun gushed over Chesney, calling him “skilled,” “mentally tough,” and “exceptionally bright.”

“When you look at academic composite, he’s probably as strong as anyone I’ve ever brought here,” Calhoun said. “But even more so it’s the fortitude, the leadership and the strength of character that he has is contagious in a positive way.”

Chesney brushed off compliments, clearly content to be part of a program and institution where his story isn’t the outlier and allows him to succeed in various endeavors in relative anonymity. 

“I think you’ll see that among a lot of our team,” he said. “Our team is filled with leaders, and I think you can pick out anyone in any one of our units and you can find a story with a lot of depth and a dude with a lot of character. I think that is unique about our school.”