If you've never heard of Caleb Perez, that's probably a good thing. That means he's doing his job.

As UCF's long snapper, Perez is responsible for delivering the ball to holder Mac Loudermilk if it's a Matt Wright field goal or extra point attempt or directly to Loudermilk on a punt. So far in his two seasons as starter, Perez has been perfect in his role.

Nick Toth, UCF's special teams coordinator, raved about Perez's ability in an interview earlier this season.

"We have the best (long snapper) in the country, hands down," Toth said. "Every single time he does it, it's the same. The velocity is the same. The accuracy is the same. He does it on Tuesday in practice the same as on Saturday. Really, taking the next step, if he's got to do anything after snapping the ball, he's a legitimate athlete. Caleb could be a linebacker or H-back at a lot of places. He's a legitimate athlete. He is not an offensive lineman playing snapper. He's not a guy snapping who is a non-factor after doing that. When we snap on punt, people have to block him. He will make (a team) fair catch. He will down the ball. He's better than anybody I've had and I've been at some other big-name places. He's as good or better than any of them."

Earlier this week, UCFSports.com caught up with the fifth-year senior from Palm Beach Gardens.

What was your path to UCF? Were you a preferred walk-on recruited by the previous staff?

"I was recruited by O'Leary. I was playing linebacker in high school. They honestly didn't know that I long snapped a little bit in high school. Being a preferred walk-on, I was trying to find the best way on the field. At the time, Coach (Mike) Buscemi was the special teams coach. I went outside and snapped a couple times in front of Coach O'Leary and he told me to stick with it. I ran with it and just got better at it. Now I'm here."

Coach Buscemi himself was a pretty good long snapper back in his day.

"After practice we would stick around for however long it took and he showed me things he worked on when he was in college snapping. I worked on it. That's all it is, just a lot of repetitions and getting better at it as time goes on and staying consistent. He taught me a lot, especially when I first started out."

When was this? 2014?

It was actually the 2015 season that I really got real 100 percent diving into long snapping because at the time I was still focusing on linebacker because that's what I was coming in to play as. Like I said, the easiest way on the field. Also, Gage Marsil at the time was in front of me. He taught me a lot too. I looked up to him and worked on stuff based on what he did. He helped me a lot too."

Did you ever imagine when you arrived at UCF that you'd develop into the starting long snapper?

"At the time, it wasn't because I priorities at other positions but once I saw the opportunity and especially to earn a scholarship, that was the biggest thing. I took it head on 100 percent. Once I put my mind towards something... if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it 100 percent until I get where I want to be. Like I said, being behind Gage helped me out and learning a lot of the things that starters do. Staying consistent all the time. I really took advantage of the opportunity and ran with it."

When did you realize you had a chance to start and get a scholarship? Was it when you were backing up Gage and sort of designated as the next guy in line?

"Yeah. That's always the thing with seniority. He had a lot more experience. I knew my time would come at a certain point. But I was prepared like it was going to come tomorrow. Like I said, practicing all the time and being ready for the opportunity. I was excited for the opportunity after Gage left, which was two years ago."

How's it been playing the last two years and being part of this championship team and playing such an important role?

"It's really awesome, especially coming from the 0-12 year. There's a bunch of us that have been through that and know the ups and downs. We've been through it and especially going through last season, we just had that chip on our shoulder for every single position from the long snapper to McKenzie at quarterback. We had that mentality to do better than the year before. We had all the pieces and we're still keeping it going. The season is still going, so we're trying to take it day by day."

How does a long snapper perfect his craft? Is it repetition?

"We do long snap a lot, but the thing is you're getting all the reps but they have to be quality reps. You can snap 50 to 100 balls a day but they can be all over the place. It's a lot of focus. You can't just get down there and expect it to be where you want every single time. Obviously you saw last week, when it's a sloppy game, you have to focus on what you're doing. You fall back to how you prepare. We're in the indoor sometimes when the rest of the team is outside and get a lot of snaps in here. Field goal snaps, punt snaps. It just comes down to falling down on how you prepare and staying focused. Just trusting what you do every single day because sometimes you can do it all the time, but once you get in the moment you can fold a little bit. You have to stay focused the entire time. That's all it is."

What was it like at Memphis last week? This was the first in a while to be in a pressure situation? It's not like you're snapping to Mac and you're up by 30. Especially on that field goal at the end of the half. You know how important those points were. What was the mindset, but I guess it doesn't matter if you're by 30 or losing by 16?

"That's the thing, no matter what the score is, Matt, Mac and I have to do what we do. We can be up by 40 or down by 40. If we're lined up for a field goal, those three points are the only thing that matters. Or an extra point or a punt that's backed up on our three yard line and we have to get it off. That's our opportunity to get our job done. Last year we played Cincinnati and we didn't have one punt. Last week we had like six punts. You never know when it's going to happen or when you're going to be called on the field. We have to make sure we get our jobs done. No matter the weather conditions or time of day, it's put the ball down, that type of thing. Me, Mac and Matt have always had that mentality. That's just the way we are."

Did you know the Memphis was calling timeout to try and ice Matt Wright?

"You have an expectation. I'm going to be honest with you. I talked to Matt and Mac all the time, listen, if we're in that opportunity, I'm still going to snap it and I still did."

Is that why the ref barked at you afterward?

"It was a little bit of chirping at the Memphis guys. It's one of those things if I can still get it off, give him a practice kick."

Do you practice with wet balls? Not an ideal situation for you.

"We do every once in a while. We had a practice the other day in the rain. The weather came by and it was pretty bad. We had a couple times where the rain is happening during practice or we'll pull the ball to the side and squirt water on it. Just kind of be ready for the fact that you never know. Honestly, this weekend (at ECU) it might be a little wet. That's what Coach mentioned. It doesn't matter. Rain, sunny out, snowing. We'll do whatever we can to make everything happen."

How tight is the specialists unit? You, Matt and Mac are all seniors.

"Me, Mac and Matt, they were my first roommates when I got here in Tower 4. Mac and I were here in the summer and Matt came a little later. We were roommates in Tower 4 for about a year and a half. Matt Wright is actually my roommate right now and Mac lives right down the street. We always do stuff on the weekends and stuff outside of football. It's a pretty tight group."

Obviously you're focusing on finishing the season, but beyond this, what are your career goals?

"Obviously I'm going to come out here for Pro Day."

Charley Hughlett is a NFL long snapper that went to UCF.

"Yeah. I'm going to do what I can. I'm a fifth-year senior graduate student. I'm in the DeVos Sports Business management program. That's a two-year program. I'll earn a dual MBA in sports management and regular MBA at UCF when I finish the program. After that, my aspirations are honestly to work for a D1 university and work towards becoming an athletic director. Wherever that takes me with my degrees. That's my main goal after football."

With that as your career goal, are you observing Danny White a little bit more than others and seeing how he operates?

"Yeah, every single day. I'm thankful to him. He's always at our practices and standing around. I came over and shook his hand, introduced myself last season. I was able to sit down with him for give or take 30 or 45 minutes on a day he was free. I'm thankful to him. I had a couple questions for him. I was very interested. Especially when you're going through a process that he's overseeing, you get to really see in depth what he's actually doing. You know just as much as I do, the difference in the university with the athletics program all around. Baseball, softball, soccer, us and everything, you get to see what he's done and what he's still doing. Being that's where I want to end up, I was very interested to see how it works because I want to be involved in it."