At Iowa, the Hawkeyes win in the margins. That means Iowa dials in on special teams in order to win football games.
Every piece of the special teams operation is a key component to the Hawkeyes’ success.
Under the direction of special teams coordinator LeVar Woods, Iowa boasts one of the best special teams units year in and year out.
Last season, Iowa’s Tory Taylor captured the Ray Guy Award, becoming the first Hawkeye to capture the award in the process. Iowa kicker Drew Stevens has been a Lou Groza Award semifinalist each of the past two seasons.
Both of those accomplishments have transpired with senior Luke Elkin as Iowa’s long snapper. The 6-foot-1, 228 pound senior from Neenah, Wis., has appeared in 40 games over the last three seasons.
As a recognition of his contribution to the Hawkeyes’ success, Elkin has been named to the Mannelly Award Watch List.
Created in 2019, the award is bestowed upon the nation’s top long snapper. The Mannelly Award website explains the genesis of the award and shares what it looks to recognize.
We live in the age of the superstar. The big gun. The first pick. The franchise player. But the more we come to understand the game of football, the more we learn to revere the guy who sets every field goal, extra point and punt in motion – including nail-biting field goals that make or break games, seasons and sometimes even careers. It’s time to show some love for the Long Snapper.
Long Snappers don’t make the cover of the program. They’re rarely asked to sign autographs. You don’t typically see them being interviewed before the game. But Long Snappers aren’t driven by these things. Quiet, selfless, focused and courageous, the Long Snapper is content to trade conventional superstardom for the opportunity to do one job very well.
The spirit of the Long Snapper lives, not just on the football field, but out in the real world as well. The nurse who hands the right instrument to the surgeon is a Long Snapper. The legal professional who works late into the night doing the research that uncovers the precedent that wins the case is a Long Snapper. Anyone who toils in quiet dedication to the greater good is a Long Snapper. No matter what you do, when you do it with excellence in the face of great pressure, you are a Long Snapper.
The Patrick Mannelly Award presented by Zebra Technologies is a vehicle through which football’s unsung workhorses can finally bask in the warm glow of appreciation. Now we celebrate the best Long Snappers in college football. And in doing so, we honor the Long Snapper in all of us. – Mannelly Award .
Elkin will seek to become the first Hawkeye to capture the Mannelly Award during the 2024 college football season.
The list of winners features Notre Dame ‘s John Shannon in 2019, Alabama ‘s Thomas Fletcher in 2020, Pittsburgh’s Cal Adomitis in 2021, Penn State ‘s Chris Still in 2022 and North Carolina ‘s Joe Shimko in 2023.
Elkin 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. The Neenah High School product was named a preseason fourth-team All-Big Ten selection by Phil Steele.
Iowa and Elkin open the 2024 season versus Illinois State on Aug. 31 at 11 a.m. CT from Kinnick Stadium.
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