Lucas Krull placed on Mackey Award watch list

Pitt tight end Lucas Krull was placed on the Mackey Award watch list on Friday. The award was established in 2000 by the Nassau County Sports Commission, and it recognizes the most outstanding tight end in college football.

Krull is one of eight ACC players included on the watch list. The other seven are Brandon Chapman of Wake Forest, Braden Galloway of Clemson, Will Mallory of Miami, Camren McDonald of Florida State, James Mitchell of Virginia Tech, Garrett Walston of North Carolina and Jelani Woods of Virginia. The ACC is tied with the Big Ten and SEC for the most players included on the watch list. The Big 12 and Pac 12 each have seven players on the list.

The 6’6”, 260-pound tight end came to Pitt from Florida as a graduate transfer in 2020. However, he played in just one game due to an injury and finished the season with one reception for six yards. Prior to his arrival in Pittsburgh, Krull played at Florida in the 2018 and 2019 seasons and came up with 108 yards on nine receptions. He started his college career at Jefferson College as a pitcher for the baseball team, but before that, he had 745 yards and 13 touchdowns as a senior at Mill Valley High School in Shawnee, Kansas.

No Pitt tight end has ever won the award in its 21-year existence. However, Krull’s former Florida teammate Kyle Pitts won the award in 2020 before embarking on an NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons. The award has also gone to ACC tight ends on three occasions, with Heath Miller of Virginia winning in 2004, Dwayne Allen of Clemson winning in 2011 and Nick O’Leary of Florida State winning in 2014.