Senior Austin Brinkman found his calling as a long snapper early on. While he played multiple roles on the field during high school, after walking on at WVU in 2020 he quickly realized long snapping was his specialty. Following a COVID year, Brinkman has started for the Mountaineers since his freshman season in 2021.
“My dad taught me when I was little. My freshman year of high school was when I found out it was something I could do and then the following year was when I decided to start taking it seriously,” Brinkman said.
The senior was awarded the 2024 Iron Mountaineer Award. Considered one of the best at his position in the country, he earned honors such as preseason All-American and was named to the Reese’s Senior Bowl Midseason All-American team in October. He is one of 10 semifinalists for the Patrick Mannelly Long Snapper Award.
When asked if the thought of taking his talents to the next level had crossed his mind, the senior explained he focuses on improving each day and taking it one step at a time.
“It’s something I try not to look too much into. I just go day by day, week by week because that’s something I struggled with early on in my career,” said Brinkman.
Brinkman explained last week that the team had the mentality of “be where your feet are.” Now that it has been mentioned, he aims to live in the moment.
With the chance of dicy weather this weekend, Brinkman and the Mountaineers plan to be ready for whatever is thrown at them. West Virginia will compete in their last home match of the season this Saturday against UCF at 3:30 p.m.
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