Duke football fans would have been forgiven for having tempered expectations for fifth-year wideout [autotag]Eli Pancol[/autotag] in 2024.
After Pancol stacked 565 yards and five touchdowns in his first three collegiate seasons, he missed the last four regular-season games in 2022 and the entire 2023 campaign with two separate ankle injuries.
In his final season with the program, however, Pancol paced the Blue Devils with 55 receptions and nine receiving touchdowns. He surpassed 100 yards twice this year, including a 188-yard performance against Virginia Tech that featured three trips to the end zone in Week 13.
He earned ACC Receiver of the Week honors for that game against the Hokies, and he took home another conference accolade on Monday when the ACC named him the recipient of the 2024 Brian Piccolo Award.
The award, given to the conference’s most courageous player, has been given out each year since 1970, but Pancol is the first Blue Devil honored since it was given to defensive lineman Scott Youmans in 1993.
That monster night against Virginia Tech came in Pancol’s final game at Wallace Wade Stadium, and he offered a small glimpse into his appreciation for this season on the ACC Network show “ACC Huddle” after the win.
“Seriously, it felt like a dream come true,” Pancol said. “Someone asked me out there, ‘What’d that feel like?’, it felt like a dream come true. I prayed for this.”
Through Week 14 of the college football season, Pancol is one of four ACC receivers with at least 50 receptions, 700 yards, and nine touchdowns. Only 25 wideouts across the entire country have matched that trifecta thus far.