OSU Long Snapper Shea Freibaum Added to Mannelly Award Watch List

The Cowboys punted a lot last year, and one man helped make sure those gimmes went off without a hitch.

Shea Freibaum is one of those unsung heroes on which Oklahoma State depends. Now that consistency has landed him on a preseason watch list.

The Cowboys’ veteran long snapper was one of three Big 12 specialists to make the Patrick Mannelly Award watch list. It’s the honor doled out to the nation’s top long snapper.

Freiabum comes into 2025 with 173 career long snaps without incident. Basically, these are the guys who want to go unnoticed. So it’s good for that consistency to earn him a little bit of the limelight. He has played in all 28 games since he arrived on campus, facilitating 121 punts and 52 place kicks. Last year, the junior accounted for 107 of the Cowboys’ 108 long snaps and 66 as a freshman in 2023. He was ranked as the No. 2 long snapper in the 2023 class per Kohl’s.

The watch list of 30 will be trimmed down when the semifinalists are announced Nov. 17 before finalists are released Dec. 1. The award will be announced at Bernie’s Book Bank’s facility in Lake Bluff, Illinois, Dec. 13.