The Davey O’Brien Award preseason watch list has already been released, but there’s another award up for grabs for a quarterback this year too.
Enter the Manning Award, created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. Unlike the O’Brien Award, bowl performances are taken into consideration. The players on the watch list were selected in conjunction with the release of ESPN’s new Total Quarterback Rating (QBR). The top 30 returning quarterbacks according to the QBR make up the watch list, but others can be added later.
The winner, announced on Jan. 8, will still be selected by a voting panel, which includes national media and each of the Mannings, after the bowls. Last year’s winner was Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel, who is on this year’s list.
Below is the Manning Award watch list. You can also check out our preseason watch lists repository HERE.
David Ash, Jr., Texas
Blake Bortles, Jr,. UCF
Tajh Boyd, Sr., Clemson
Teddy Bridgewater, Jr., Louisville
Terrance Broadway, Jr., UL-Lafayette
Kolton Browning, Sr., UL- Monroe
Derek Carr, Sr., Fresno State
Rakeem Cato, Jr., Marshall
Kain Colter, Sr., Northwestern
Cody Fajardo, Jr., Nevada
David Fales, Sr., San Jose State
Brett Hundley, So., UCLA
Chuckie Keeton, Jr., Utah State
Taylor Kelly, Jr., Arizona State
Logan Kilgore, Sr., Middle Tennessee
Jordan Lynch, Sr., Northern Illinois
Sean Mannion, Jr., Oregon State
Johnny Manziel, So., Texas A&M
Marcus Mariota, So., Oregon
Taylor Martinez, Sr. Nebraska
A.J. McCarron, Jr. Alabama
Braxton Miller, Jr., Ohio State
Stephen Morris, Sr., Miami (FL)
Aaron Murray, Sr., Georgia
Bryn Renner, Sr., North Carolina
Connor Shaw, Sr., South Carolina
Brett Smith, Jr., Wyoming
Joe Southwick, Sr., Boise State
Eric Soza, Sr., UTSA
Bo Wallace, Jr., Ole Miss