Tag: Patrick Mannelly Award Watch List

Gators longsnapper named to Patrick Mannelly Award Watch List

Florida football’s redshirt junior long snapper Rocco Underwood was named to the 2024 Patrick Mannelly Award Watch List on Monday.

Florida football’s redshirt junior long snapper [autotag]Rocco Underwood[/autotag] was named to the 2024 Patrick Mannelly Award Watch List on Monday. The honor is bestowed upon the player determined as the best FBS long snapper each fall.

The fourth-year lineman from Lake Mary, Florida, has served as the starting long snapper for the Gators each of the previous two seasons, recording 78 total snaps in 2023 with only one missed connection with punter/holder [autotag]Jeremy Crawshaw[/autotag] on the season.

Created in 2019, The Patrick Mannelly Award benefits Bernie’s Book Bank, a non-profit organization located in Lake Bluff, Illinois. The award is named for Patrick Mannelly, a 16-year NFL long snapper for the Chicago Bears.

Florida has had one previous athlete be named to a Mannelly Award watch list — [autotag]Marco Ortiz[/autotag] who was selected prior to the 2022 campaign. He suffered an injury after the first game of the season, opening the door for the redshirt freshman Underwood to ultimately take his place.

The 10 semi-finalists will be announced on Nov. 11, with the list narrowed to three finalists who will be announced on Nov. 25. The winner will be selected at the live award ceremony in Lake Bluff on Dec. 14.

The complete list of nominees can be seen below.

Name School
Austin Brinkman West Virginia
Austin Riggs Rutgers
Beau Gardner Georgia
Ben Anderson Oklahoma
Brent Matiscik TCU
Byron Floyd Buffalo
Cayson Pfeiffer Wisconsin
Christian Johnstone Appalachian State
Colby Cox Memphis
Dylan Black Oregon State
Eli Stein Arkansas
Ethan Hudak Tulane
Hank Pepper USC
Hunter Rogers South Carolina
Jacob Garcia Utah State
JT Greep Utah
Julian Ashby Vanderbilt
Kneeland Hibbett Alabama
Luke Elkin Iowa
Luke Hosford Kansas
Nicholas Marino Florida Atlantic
Philip Florenzo Clemson
Rocco Underwood Florida
Ryan Wintermeyer San Diego State
Slade Roy LSU
Travis Drosos UCLA
Tucker Dunn Ball State
Tyler Duzansky Penn State
Will Halkyard Northwestern
William Wagner Michigan

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Oklahoma Sooners’ Kasey Kelleher named to Patrick Mannelly Award watch list

Kasey Kelleher was named to the Patrick Mannelly Award watch list as one of college football’s best long snappers. 

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The Oklahoma Sooners have had one of the best kicking units in college football for what seems like the better part of a decade. Gabe Brkic and Austin Seibert might get all of the accolades, but as the Oklahoma Sooners Twitter account states, “every good kick starts with a good snap.”

To that end, Kasey Kelleher was named to the Patrick Mannelly Award watch list as one of college football’s best long snappers.

In only the third season of its existence, the award has been won by John Shannon of Notre Dame and Thomas Fletcher of Alabama.

Long snapper may not be a position the average college football fan thinks about much, but it is if you don’t have a good one. Kelleher has been a good one for the Oklahoma Sooners in his three seasons in Norman.

He’s been the long snapper for 39 games as part of an Oklahoma Sooners kicking game that has been one of the best in the country the last several seasons.

With Kelleher as the long snapper for the Oklahoma Sooners, the kicking game has made 87% of its field goals between Seibert and Brkic. Since 2018, the Sooners have missed one extra point in 189 attempts.

The long snapper is an underrated position because so much of what happens in the kicking game depends on the snap. If the snap is off even a little bit and it forces the holder to reach for the ball, it can throw off the whole operation of the kick.

Having a reliable and dependable long snapper is incredibly valuable to a team. Kasey Kelleher is as reliable and dependable as they come and will continue to play an important role for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021.

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