Duke Football Senior Wide Receiver Has Emotional First Game of Season

Eli Pancol, the 24-year old wide receiver for Duke, is now beginning his fifth season of college football at Duke University, after joining the program in 2019. Through the storied career Pancol has had, it hasn't always been easy for him.

His freshman campaign in 2019 was quiet as he finished with just six catches for 91 yards and three touchdowns. Yet, Pancol earned an Honorable Mention Freshman All-America selection by Pro Football Focus. Pancol became a true contributor for the Blue Devils in 2020 and 2021, where he appeared in every game for those two seasons combined. Through his sophomore and junior seasons, Pancol combined for 474 yards on 41 catches to go along with a touchdown in each of those seasons. In 2022, he set a career-high for himself in yards with 335 and caught 21 balls as a senior. However, things were shaken up due to injury for Pancol in 2023.

Pancol suffered two lower body injuries in the span of ten months, requiring him to miss the end of the 2022 season and the entire 2023 season and get surgery. Conor O'Neill of duke.rivals.com highlighted what then Duke football head coach Mike Elko had to say about Pancol's injury in his article.

It was no guarantee that Pancol would ever see the field again, considering he'd already graduated and was coming back for a fifth year. Yet, he did, and saw himself back on the field in Duke's 2024 season-opening 26-3 win over Elon at home. Pancol was back on the field like he'd never left, finishing tied for the most catches of any Duke receiver in the game with seven, and added 81 yards and a touchdown to go along with it. Pancol talked about his struggles coming back from injury in his postgame press conference.

"My emotions were through the roof. I'm not going to lie, I was dang near crying at halftime." Pancol said responding to a question about what it was like to be back on the field. "I saw a text from my mom. She wasn't here tonight, she was over doing cousin's bachelorette party. She was just so proud of me...she said she was crying."

Despite Pancol coming back onto the scene with a great all-around performance against Elon, he talked about his nerves after not having played in a game for a long time.

"Honestly, I had a lot of nerves, I'm not going to lie. My first catch even, I didn't even tuck the ball right because I was lowkey scared of what was going to happen. It was good once I got hit, I felt comfortable...so I fell back in the rhythm of things pretty quickly," Pancol said.

Pancol is expected to be one of Duke's best deep threats along the perimeter of the field and certainly one of the msot productive receivers the Blue Devils have to offer this season. As his connection with quarterback Maalik Murphy grows, it will be exciting to see what Pancol can do in his first healthy season in just about two years.