Utah LS Keegan Markgraf named to Mannelly award watch list
Utah keeps on racking up the preseason accolades.
After having multiple members named to the all-Pac-12 preseason teams by many different news outlets, linebacker Devin Lloyd and quarterback Jake Bentley received individual honors by being named to the preseason watch lists for their respective positions.
And now Keegan Markgraf joins them in individual honors. The senior long snapper was recently named to the Patrick Mannelly award preseason watch list, given annually to the nation's premier long snapper.
Markgraf originally began his career as a member of the Central Michigan football team for the 2016-17 season before electing to transfer to Utah.
He walked-on to the program during fall camp of the 2018 season and promptly earned the starting role for short snapper (FG/XP), where he played in all 14 games. Markgraf then earned the ling snapper role (punts), where he started for the final six gams. He carried that momentum into the 2019 season where he started all 14 games as both the short and long snapper.
According the Patrick Mannelly award watch list...
"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. "
In 2019, Markgraf was named a first-team CoSIDA Academic All-District and Pac-12 All-Academic.
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