Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic

Senior punter Blake Gillikin, Penn State’s Goodyear Cotton Bowl Scholar-Athlete, held a perfect 4.0 grade-point average as a kinesiology major. Gillikin was named CoSIDA Academic All-American first team for the second-straight year. In the process, he became Penn State’s 45th first-team Academic All-American selection and 11th two-time honoree.
 
In 2018, Gillikin became the program’s first punter, and 34th player, to earn a first-team Academic All-America honor. He is a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection. He claimed the Evan Pugh Scholar Award at Penn State given to juniors and seniors who are in the upper 0.5 percent of their respective classes. He also earned the President’s Freshman Award, which recognizes Penn State students for academic excellence. Gillikin interned at Drayer Physical Therapy in State College in the spring and summer of 2019, and also performed a job shadow at Penn State Heath in State College in the summer of 2019.
 
The Smyrna, Georgia native is a two-time team captain at Penn State. He entered the Goodyear Cotton Bowl ranked third on Penn State’s career punt average list (42.99) and set a program record with a 44.0 punting average in 2018. The senior landed 98 career punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, including 53 inside the 10. Gillikin hit 10 career punts of 60 or more yards and is the only Nittany Lion with four 70-yard punts in a career. As a senior, Gillikin owned a 42.0 average and was selected All-Big Ten honorable mention by the coaches and media. He also earned the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
 
In 2019, Gillikin was named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week following his performances against Iowa and Michigan State and was tabbed for the Ray Guy Ray’s 8 Team after the Iowa and Pitt games. Gillikin was a finalist for the Pop Warner Award. He also was selected as a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy and Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year awards. In addition, Gillikin was named as a candidate for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, Senior CLASS Award and Wuerffel Trophy.
 
Gillikin created a program to have his fellow student-athletes donate their new or gently used backpacks and filled them with school supplies to give them to unprivileged kids at the Youth Service Bureau in Centre County. In addition, he served as the treasurer of the Penn State Uplifting Athletes chapter in 2018, helping the chapter raise nearly $115,000 million for rare disease treatment and research. Gillikin also participated in THON events, Hershey Hospital visits and a variety of other community service projects.