Steelers Sign WVU Long Snapper

The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed long snapper Rex Sunahara to their 90-man roster, trainer Kyle Stetler announced on Monday.

Sunahara is a West Virginia alum on his second stint with then Steelers. He was first brought in late in the 2021 season and then was retained on the roster through the first part of the 2022 offseason.

He will compete with incumbent Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz. The Steelers have traditionally carried two of each specialist position into training camp, but to this point, only had one long snapper on the roster to go along with kickers Chris Boswell and B.T. Potter and punters Pressley Harvin III and Braden Mann.

The 6-foot-6, 242-pound 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 before catching on with the Steelers late that year.

This spring, Sunahara played with the Arlington Renegades of the XFL. The Steelers have several XFL alumni on their roster already, including wide receiver Hakeem Butler and cornerback Luq Barcoo. Sunahara had a tryout with the Steelers earlier this spring.

With the Steelers also expected to sign linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski after his tryout during minicamp last week, the club will need to make one cut to make room on its 90-man offseason roster. The club made one vacant spot on Friday by releasing safety Scott Nelson.