Kansas will have a new long snapper next season.
The under-the-radar special-teams position has long been defined by continuity for the Jayhawks, who had plenty of consistency over the years with Luke Hosford and Emory Duggar. In 2026, though, they have a new veteran option at their disposal: Rino Monteforte.
Monteforte, a transfer from Cal who started his career at Notre Dame, confirmed to the Journal-World on Thursday morning that he has signed with KU and also said he will visit Lawrence this weekend. He joins Hollis Moeller, who will be a redshirt sophomore next year and played in one game in 2025, among KU’s long-snapping options.
Monteforte is originally from North Babylon, New York, on Long Island, and attended Kellenberg Memorial High in Uniondale. The 5-foot-7, 210-pound long snapper will be a fifth-year senior at KU, as he redshirted his first year at Notre Dame in 2022.
He spent two years with the Fighting Irish, making occasional appearances as a backup snapper in 2023 and then serving as a short snapper on field goals and extra points across all 16 games for the team that reached the national title game at the conclusion of the 2024 season.
He graduated from Notre Dame in three years with a theology degree and then moved to Cal in the spring of 2025, where he spent the season as the full-time long snapper.
Monteforte is the first piece of what will be a generally revamped group of specialists after KU also lost last year’s successful kicker and punter, Laith Marjan and Finn Lappin, to graduation.
