Senior wide receiver and return specialist Daniel Manneh was named Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Week following an electric performance against Hartwick College on homecoming weekend. In addition, Manneh’s performance placed him on the D3football.com Team of the Week as a return specialist.
“I was initially happy and excited about it,” Manneh said. “My hard work was getting noticed. The personal accomplishments were great to have, but the recognition was more exciting.”
Manneh had an electric first quarter, posting three touchdowns for Brockport in a dominant 56-0 shutout performance. Manneh began by returning the opening kickoff for the first touchdown of the game. Later, Manneh ran a screen pass 23 yards for his second of the quarter. Just minutes later, he returned a punt to the Hartwick endzone 67 yards for his third touchdown of the matchup.
Manneh finished the contest with three catches for 45 yards and one offensive touchdown, along with 148 return yards and two special teams’ touchdowns for 193 total yards.
Before the contest, Manneh recognized the need for his mindset to remain consistent with how it had been throughout the first three weeks of the regular season, especially coming off of a 30-24 overtime loss to RPI where the senior posted 15 receptions for 196 yards and a touchdown.
“My mindset going into the game was staying level-headed, especially since it was homecoming,” Manneh said. “I wanted to keep my head and play football the way I know how to play and not let the game get bigger in my head, even if it was a big game.”
Going into the Empire 8 matchup, Manneh and the Golden Eagles had no specific strategies, other than to treat Hartwick as though they were the best team in the nation.
“There weren’t really any specific strategies; our mindset just remained the same for this week,” Manneh said. “Our mentality needs to be the same as if we are playing the number one team in the country with every team we play.”
Following his initial kickoff return, Manneh and company felt the energy throughout the stadium and the sidelines. Manneh knew that the Golden Eagles could keep the energy high and continue their domination.
“Opening the game with a kickoff return always gets the crowd and everyone hyped and makes everyone feel more confident,” Manneh said. “From there, we just couldn’t be stopped, and we were rolling.”
Manneh credits his team for assisting in his individual performance and feels strongly following the matchup.
“I felt great about my performance,” Manneh said. “It was a strong performance against Hartwick. My team and I did great preparation. Everyone was where they needed to be, and I just read everything.”
As of week four, Manneh is the leading wide receiver for Brockport, leading the team in receptions with 24, receiving yards with 313, and tying for a Golden Eagles’ best two receiving touchdowns. On special teams, Manneh leads Brockport in both Punt and Kick return yards, with 72 and 170 yards respectively, and a return touchdown in both categories.
Following their homecoming dominance, Brockport received seven votes for the D3football.com Top 25 rankings, finishing 34th in voting. The Golden Eagles currently rank second in the Empire 8 Conference, just behind #22 Cortland, both with 3-1 overall records.
Brockport will travel to Rochester to face the 3-1 St. John Fisher Cardinals in the annual Courage Bowl this Saturday, October 4th, for its second conference matchup of the season. St. John Fisher currently ranks third in the Empire 8 following a strong 21-7 win against Alfred University.
