Steelers Sign Ex-WVU Long Snapper Rex Sunahara to Practice Squad

The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed former West Virginia long snapper Rex Sunahara to their practice squad, the team announced on Wednesday.

Sunahara is a 6-foot-6, 242-pound former West Virginia long snapper that has been with several NFL teams.

The Steelers hosted Sunahara and punter Drue Chrisman for free agent visits on Tuesday before signing them both to contracts for Wednesday. The team also recently added kicker Sam Sloman to its practice squad in an effort to boost numbers at key positions with the team experiencing a rash of positive COVID-19 tests in recent weeks.

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Sunahara was a basketball player at Rhode Island before transferring to West Virginia to become a long snapper. He was the team’s primary long snapper in 2018 and 2019. After that season he was a semifinalist for the Patrick Mannelly Award and participated in the 2020 NFLPA Collegiate All-Star Game and 2020 Hula Bowl.

Sunahara signed with the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent, but was released. He re-signed with the Dolphins in January on a reserve/future contract for the 2021 season. He was released in July, re-signed in August, and then released again on Aug. 10.

Christian Kuntz is in his first year as the Steelers’ primary long snapper. He spent much of 2020 on the team’s practice squad in the role that Sunahara will assume going forward.