ACC honors Duke football wide receiver Eli Pancol with the Piccolo Award for courage

Having started his Duke career suffering through three consecutive losing seasons, Eli Pancol had more than that to endure before his college career could end.

Coaching changes brought winning as Duke is heading to a bowl game for the third consecutive season. But Pancol, a wide receiver, missed most of 2022 and all of 2023 with leg injuries.

Undeterred as he turned 24 years old last July, Pancol finally found success and health in the same season, helping the Blue Devils go 9-3 while he caught a team-best nine touchdown passes.

Monday, that work was recognized by the ACC when Pancol won the league’s Piccolo Award, recognizing him as the league’s most courageous player. The award is named for Brian Piccolo, the 1964 ACC player of the year as a running back at Wake Forest who died from cancer at age 26 during his NFL career with the Chicago Bears.

Though he suffered through two serious injuries and needed surgery to recover, Pancol said he never doubted during his long rehabilitation process that he’d play for Duke again. His success in doing so, he said, is a testament to Duke’s training, medical and coaching staff.

“I mean, it’s a huge testament to the people I’m surrounded by,” Pancol said last month, prior to his senior day game at Wallace Wade Stadium on Nov. 23. “The training staff, the doctors, the players, the coaches, everyone who believed in me.”

Pancol first caught a pass for Duke during the 2019 season, when he played in all 12 games as a freshman under former head coach David Cutcliffe.

During the 2020 and 2021 seasons, when Duke suffered through a 5-18 record while losing 13 consecutive ACC games during one stretch, Pancol caught a total of 41 passes while scoring two touchdowns.

Upon the coaching change to Mike Elko in 2022, the Blue Devils became a winning team once again. Pancol started the first eight games before an injury interrupted his season. He returned to catch two passes in Duke’s Military Bowl win over UCF to finish with 23 catches.

He was set to be one of Duke’s top receivers last season but a knee injury suffered during an August practice required surgery that ended his season before it began.

When Elko left to become Texas A&M’s coach after 9-4 and 7-5 seasons, Pancol chose to stay at Duke to use his final season of eligibility under coach Manny Diaz.

Both men are glad it played out that way, as are the rest of the Blue Devils.

“Coach Diaz, especially, believed in me and wanted me to come back here,” Pancol said. “It’s a huge testament to them for having faith in me and believing that I could overcome my obstacles, and giving me that confidence in myself to come out and actually do it. I hope I can be an influence to anybody who ever endures injury, to know that that’s not the end, and like you’re going to bounce back and become stronger than before.”

This season, Pancol logged a team-best 55 receptions, gaining 741 yards.

In his first game back from injury, on Aug. 30 against Elon, Pancol caught seven passes for 81 yards and a touchdown in Duke’s 26-3 win.

“When you’re at this point of his career,” Diaz said that night, when you’re an older guy and suddenly start to stare at life after football in the face, for him, he appreciates every day in this program. Because it’s like a new lease on life and he’s got his football back.”

Pancol admitted to having “a lot of nerves” prior to that game and nearly bringing himself to tears at halftime because he was so happy to be back.

“You go through a physical injury but the hardest part is the mental game,” Pancol said that night. “That’s why I tell all the guys who get hurt now, you’ve got to just stay the course. You’ll be stronger from it. I got stronger from it.”

That he did because he was just getting started with a great final season for Duke.

Pancol caught at least two passes in every game this season. His busiest night was Oct. 26, when he caught 11 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown in Duke’s 28-27 overtime loss to Southern Methodist.

His final home game, on Nov. 23, saw the most productive game of his career. While catching five passes, Pancol gained 188 yards and scored three touchdowns in Duke’ 31-28 win. In the first quarter, he caught touchdown passes covering 86 and 77 yards from quarterback Maalik Murphy.

Now Duke has one more game to play in whatever bowl game selects it. That means one more college game for Pancol with the Blue Devils.

No matter what happens, he’s already taught his teammates lifelong lessons.

“I don’t take anything for granted,” Pancol said. “Every single practice, every single play, I try to go as hard as I can, because I know it can be taken just like that.”

UNC, Wake players receive honors

North Carolina guard Willie Lampkin won the ACC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy as the top blocker in the league this season. A 5-11, 290-pound senior, Lampkin began his career at Coastal Carolina before transferring to play for the Tar Heels the last two seasons, starting every UNC game during that time.

Wake Forest wide receiver Taylor Morin won the Tatum Award as the ACC’s top football scholar athlete. Having already graduated with an engineering degree, Morin caught 64 passes for 756 yards this season. He finished his career as Wake’s all-time leader in receiving yards (2,974).