IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior Luke Elkin has been named to the 2024 preseason Mannelly Award Watch List. The award, created in 2019, recognizes the most outstanding long snapper in Division I football.
Elkin (6-foot-1, 228 pounds) has been Iowa’s long snapper the past three seasons. He earned the team’s Next Man In Award (special teams) as a freshman, Hayden Fry Award as a sophomore and Coaches Appreciation Award last season as a junior.
Elkin snapped for punter Tory Taylor, the Ray Guy Award recipient and consensus All-American in 2023, as well as placekicker Drew Stevens, a two-time Lou Groza Award semifinalist. He is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
The Mannelly Award is ‘a vehicle through which football’s unsung workhorses can bask in the glow of appreciation.’ Mannelly was considered one of the NFL’s best long-snappers during a 16-year career that he spent exclusively with the Chicago Bears from 1998-2013.
Elkin and the Hawkeyes kickoff the season against Illinois State on Aug. 31 inside a sold-out Kinnick Stadium beginning at 11 a.m. (CT).
HAWKEYES ON 2024 WATCH LISTS
* Sebastian Castro – Bronko Nagurski Trophy (D-POY) // Jim Thorpe Award (DB)
* Jay Higgins — Bronko Nagurski Trophy (D-POY) // Wuerffel Award (community service)
* Nick Jackson — Bronko Nagurski Trophy (D-POY)
* Logan Jones – Outland Trophy (OL)
* Drew Stevens – Lou Groza Award (PK)