MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University long snapper and Bel Air, Md., native Austin Brinkman has been nominated for the Patrick Mannelly Award Watch List, joining 29 other collegiate long snappers for a chance to earn the most prestigious award at his position.
Having made the cut for the award’s watch list last preseason as well, this marks Brinkman’s second straight year in the running.
2024 is the sixth year of the Patrick Mannelly Award, named after former NFL long snapper Patrick Mannelly who played for the Chicago Bears from 1998 to 2013. At the end of this year’s regular season, a selection committee of 17 judges, including Mannelly himself, will grant the award to just one long snapper who’s deemed the best in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
A 2020 graduate of The John Carroll School, Austin Brinkman enters his senior year at WVU after redshirting his freshman year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, he’s started in each of the 38 games he’s played, and in each of his past three years as a Mountaineer, he’s been named to the Academic All-Big 12 Conference First Team.
“When the list came out again this year and he was on there, it was a little more satisfying knowing that this is his last year to be mentioned,” his father, Ken Brinkman, told Harford Lifestyle. “I think him being on there the last two years is deserving and definitely exciting.”
Having also been Austin’s head coach at John Carroll, Ken has seen his son play a range of positions on all sides of the ball, but said he started prepping Austin to be a long snapper at an early age.
“When [Austin] was super young, probably about five years old, I started teaching him in the basement and said, ‘you never know how you’re going to be built, how fast you’re going to be, what you’re going to look like— so you need to learn a specialty.’”
It’s safe to say long snapping became Austin’s specialty. He started at the position his freshman, sophomore and junior years at John Carroll, but ironically played two different positions during his final season and neither were long snapper.
“His senior year, we needed a punter and a quarterback, so I moved him to quarterback and he took over punting duties,” Ken Brinkman said. While a transfer took over for him at long snapper, Austin finished his final season being named to the All-Harford County First Team at punter.
This past April, Austin was also one of five WVU players who earned the Iron Mountaineer Award. According to the team’s website, the honor is presented once a year to “the most outstanding performers in WVU’s offseason strength and conditioning program.”
Brinkman is expected to start for the Mountaineers in their first game this season— a home stand against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Aug. 31. To remain eligible for the award by the end of the season, he must start in 75% of West Virginia’s games.
“He’s had his preseason, now we just have to go do it for real and play,” Ken Brinkman said. “I tell him every game: snap well, stay healthy, and the rest will take care of itself.”