With the first five weeks of the 2014 season in the books, one major college football award has downsized its original preseason watch list.
Wednesday, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award announced that it had trimmed its watch list down to 15 quarterbacks from the 27 that appeared on it in the preseason. Among those still included on the in-season list are 2013 semifinalists Sean Mannion of Oregon State and Marcus Mariota of Oregon.
Another semifinalist from last year, Arizona State’s Taylor Kelly, was not included in the update. Kelly has been dealing with an injury that’s already knocked him out of one game and will sideline him for at least one more.
It’s at this point in the program where we compelled to remind you that the Unitas is given annually to the nation’s top senior (eligibility-wise or academically) at the quarterback position, so don’t freak out because (Player X) isn’t listed.
The Pac-12 continues to lead all conference with six players. The Big Ten and SEC, with two apiece, are the only other leagues with more than one.
Along with Kelly, here’s the remaining dozen quarterbacks no longer listed by the Unitas: Maryland’s C.J. Brown, Alabama’s Jacob Coker, Florida’s Jeff Driskel, Michigan’s Devin Gardner, Colorado State’s Garrett Grayson, Prairie View A&M’s Jerry Lovelocke, Georgia’s Hutson Mason, Ohio State’s Braxton Miller, Northwestern’s Trevor Siemian, Oklahoma State’s J.W. Walsh and Kansas State’s Jake Waters.
Below is the 15-player strong Unitas Award watch list:
Anthony Boone, Duke
Shane Carden, East Carolina
Rakeem Cato, Marshall
Connor Cook, Michigan State
Cody Fajardo, Nevada
Connor Halliday, Washington State
Kevin Hogan, Stanford
Brett Hundley, UCLA
Cody Kessler, USC
Sean Mannion, Oregon State
Marcus Mariota, Oregon
Bryce Petty, Baylor
Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
Jake Rudock, Iowa
Bo Wallace, Ole Miss