Hunter Rogers Named to Patrick Mannelly Award Watch List

University of South Carolina redshirt junior Hunter Rogers is one of 25 Division I players named to the 2023 preseason watch list for the Patrick Mannelly Award. The Mannelly Award is presented annually to the top college long snapper in the country.

Rogers, a 6-1, 202-pounder from Spring Valley High School in Columbia, earned second-team All-SEC honors from both the SEC coaches and from Phil Steele following the 2022 season. Rogers served as the snapper for both All-American punter Kai Kroeger and placekicker Mitch Jeter, who did not miss a field goal attempt all season. In addition, Rogers rushed one time for a first down on a fake field goal setting up the Gamecocks first touchdown of the season against Georgia State and scored on a 23-yard pass reception from Kroeger on a fake field goal in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against Notre Dame.

According to the Mannelly Award website, “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.”