Hawaii long snapper Jack Mowrey’s speciality is firing a football backward between his legs.

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His philosophy is to pay it forward.

“My father served 21 years in the Air Force, and he instilled how to be a man and how to treat people the right way,” Mowrey said. “I remember after school, he’d always ask me: ‘What’s the one nice thing you did for someone today?’ I never take that for granted. I try to go out of my way to help someone, to pay it forward.”

Mowrey recalled his first few weeks in Hawaii after transferring from James Madison 13 months ago. Oahu was nothing like Charlotte, N.C., where he was reared. But his new UH teammates gave him rides, introduced him to people, showed him the island way.

A season later, Mowrey has provided guidance and shared barbecued meals with punter/holder Gehrig Heil, punter Gannon Miller and kicker Hudson Borsari.

“These kids are coming in for the first time,” Mowrey said. “You have to be that person someone was for you.”

There was a cast of mentors that helped Mowrey. As an Ardrey Kell High freshman, Mowrey learned the snapper’s grip from Craig Montgomery, a noted snapping instructor. Mowrey used his off hand for stability. He applied the two-point pressure with his right hand.

“It worked for me, and I rode with it,” Mowrey said. “I trusted him. I’ve been doing that forever now. Who knows how many times I’ve thrown a football with that grip? I stuck with that, and ran with it, and it’s proven to work out pretty well for me.”

David Mowrey served as his son’s catcher.

“Whenever I needed him to, he’d always go to the field with me and catch snaps,” Jack Mowrey said. “I would snap it to him or to a target, and he’d throw the ball back to me. I owe a lot to him for always being there to encourage me and being hard on me when he needed to be tough.”

After redshirting as a JMU freshman in 2023 and playing in 13 games as the short-snapper in 2024, Mowrey opted to enter the transfer portal. In search of a punter, UH special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield recalled hitting the refresh button on the portal page every five to 10 minutes. Five minutes after Mowrey’s name appeared, Sheffield was viewing videos and contacting the JMU coaches. All of them praised Mowrey.

Two hours after appearing in the portal, Mowrey received a call from Sheffield. After the conversation, Sheffield called head coach Timmy Chang, who gave the green light.

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“We offered about 25 minutes later, and he accepted about 15 minutes after that,” Sheffield said.

Sheffield believed the personable Mowrey would blend with Japan-reared kicker Kansei Matsuzawa and 29-year-old freshman punter Billy Gowers. Fourth-string quarterback Caleb Freeman was picked as holder. During the first half of the 2025 training camp, Matsuzawa struggled with his aim. But the place-kicking unit corrected the flaws the week ahead of the opener. Matsuzawa kicked the game-winning field goal to beat Stanford. He tied an FBS record with 25 consecutive field goals to start the season.

Last December, Matsuzawa and Freeman completed their NCAA careers, and Gowers transferred to Indiana. Heil, who transferred to UH after redshirting as a Texas freshman, is the new holder. Kickoff specialist Sean Olvera-Harle is Matsuzawa’s successor as point-scoring kicker.

“It’s kind of the same concept as ‘next man up,’” Mowrey said. “Just because Kansei and Billy departed, it doesn’t mean we stop doing what we’re doing. We’re still doing the same thing. I have a lot of faith in our guys.”

Mowrey has made the adjustments on his snaps to Heil.

“Every holder is different,” Mowrey said. “They all have different arm lengths, different catch radius, and they like to catch it in different (targeted) spots. It’s a confidence thing. Once I figured out where (Heil) catches it, I knew how many revolutions to put on the ball, and put it right to him.”

Mowrey said he complements his daily snaps — between 200 and 300 — with wrist curls, finger extensions and squeezing sand or raw rice in a bucket “over and over again.”

He also has practiced his culinary skills at cookouts this summer. His preference is a Blackstone grill. In the kitchen, he uses cast-iron skillets sent by his grandmother. He coats the steaks and ribs with his grandfather’s secret recipe, a vinegar-based sauce known as Lexington Splash.

As for his role as a cast-iron chef, Mowrey mused, “Maybe I’ll keep it as a side gig for now and stick with my day job.”

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