John Shannon is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

long snapper In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point attempt ...

who played for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

Early life

Shannon attended

Loyola Academy Loyola Academy is a private, Catholic, co-educational college preparatory high school run by the USA Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus in Wilmette, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, and in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and was one of 15 finalists for the Chris Rubio award, given to the nation's top long snapper in high school. He was part of the 2015 team that went 14–0 and won the state championship. He was the number one long snapper recruit by

247Sports.com 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite be ...

and

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

College career

Shannon joined

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

in 2016, but did not see any action as a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

. As a sophomore the following year, Shannon started all 13 games and was perfect on all 138 snaps. As a junior in 2018, he again appeared in all 13 games, and made two tackles on special teams. After his senior year in 2019, where he played in every game, made three tackles, and recovered a fumble, Shannon beat out finalists

Liam McCullough Liam McCullough (born June 5, 1997) is an American football long snapper for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Las Vegas Raiders ...

and

Steven Wirtel Steven Wirtel (born October 3, 1997) is an American football long snapper who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Iowa State, and originally signed with the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He has also played ...

to be given the inaugural

Patrick Mannelly Award The Patrick Mannelly Award is an award given annually in the United States to the best college football long snapper. The award is named after Duke Blue Devils alum and former Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American footbal ...

, given to the best long snapper in the country. He was given the game ball after his fumble recovery against

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

Later and personal life

After going unselected in the

2020 NFL Draft The 2020 NFL Draft was the 85th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2020 NFL season. The first round was held on April 23, followed by the second and third rounds on April 24. The d ...

, Shannon pursued a career in law enforcement. His grandfather,

Dan Shannon Daniel Webster Shannon (March 23, 1865 – October 24, 1913) was an American Major League Baseball player and manager. He began his Major League career in with the Louisville Colonels as their second baseman. During the season, he became playe ...

, was a four-year starter for Notre Dame and was named All-American as a senior.

References

American football long snappers Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Players of American football from Illinois {{Amfoot-bio-stub