Meet Aidan Schneider, Oregon football’s freshman kicker! Schneider is relatively new to the football field; he played soccer until halfway through his junior year of high school, then made the switch to football. He is of great value to the Ducks, as he played in 9 out of their 15 games this past fall. He looks forward to the future and hopes to one day play for the Baltimore Ravens.
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Major: Business
HCO: Describe yourself in three words
Aidan Schneider: Relaxed, happy, pleasant.
HC: What do you bring to the team besides a great kick?
AS: I think I’m a pretty good teammate. I’m here to support everybody.
HC: How would you describe being on the team?
AS: It’s been absolutely great. Obviously it’s a lot of time, even in the off season every day. The latest I get to sleep in on a weekday is 7:30 and on Fridays I get up at 5:45. It’s hard to hear some people complain about having to go to class at 10. It’s a lot of work. It’s been a great experience and playing at Autzen is a crazy thing to be able to do. It’s definitely worth it in the end.
HC: Did you come to any Oregon football games during high school?
AS: I went to one. I wasn’t a big football fan. I played soccer my whole life and that was always my favorite sport. I started playing football halfway through my junior season.
HC: Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
AS: I would love to be playing in the NFL. That would be very cool, but that’s not something that I’m counting on doing. I’d also like to own my own business at some point.
HC: What is your favorite NFL team?
AS: The Ravens. It started solely because of their kicker, Justin Tucker. He was undrafted out of college. He didn’t get drafted and then had such a successful career. It’s really inspirational.
Photo by Shawn Hubbard
HC: How was it going from high school to college?
AS: It was a pretty big difference, especially because my high school team wasn’t very good. We won one game my senior year. Now my team is expected to win every game.
HC: How do you stay grounded as a student?
AS: One word: Naps.
HC: Best advice you’ve ever received?
AS: Don’t take things too seriously. Give effort and take things seriously to a point, but most little things won’t affect the big picture too much. That helps with football a lot. If you miss, you can’t let if affect you or it will make everything else after it worse.
HC: What are you most proud of?
AS: Being able to play as much as I did this year. I wasn’t expecting that at all because I hadn’t been kicking that long. I played in 9 out of our 15 games.
HC: What’s your best memory of your first season playing for Oregon?
AS: Playing in the Rose Bowl and National Championship. We had really good team chemistry this year. It was amazing.
HC: Does the team have any unusual traditions?
AS: Unfortunately the freshman have to sing during the summer. I sang “Sweet Child O’ Mine” alone in front of the whole team. I’m a horrible singer, so it wasn’t my definition of fun.