Joe Burrow may have exhausted his eligibility at LSU, but the Heisman Trophy winner isn’t done collecting collegiate hardware.
Wednesday, the Manning Award, named in honor of the quarterbacking Mannings — Archie, Peyton and Eli — announced that Joe Burrow of LSU has been named as its 2019 winner. The Manning goes to the nation’s top quarterback and is the only major trophy to take into account postseason performance.
In leading LSU to the national championship, Burrow passed for 5,671 yards and an FBS-record 60 touchdown passes. He threw just six interceptions in completing 76.3 percent of his passes, narrowly missing out on breaking Colt McCoy’s completion percentage record of 76.7.
In addition to the Manning and the Heisman, Burrow claimed the Associated Press National Player of the Year award, the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Award, the Davey O’Brien Award and the Johnny Unitas Award as well as being a unanimous First-Team All-American and the SEC Offensive Player of the Year.
It’s expected that Burrow will be the first player selected in the 2020 NFL Draft in April.
“I’ve not sure we’ve ever seen a quarterback have the high level of sustained and consistent excellence against a very challenging schedule that Joe Burrow had this season,” said Archie Manning in a statement. “Week-in and week-out, he played elite-level football while leading his team to victory. He simply didn’t have an off-day all season-long, which is amazing. And then in the postseason, he managed to take his game to another level. It’s been a pleasure to watch Joe this year.
“On behalf of the entire Manning family, we would like to thank the Sugar Bowl Committee for its generous and ongoing support of the Manning Award. The Bowl’s role in making this award possible each year is greatly appreciated.
Burrow was one of a dozen finalists for this year’s award, which the previous two years had gone to quarterbacks from Oklahoma -- Baker Mayfield won the award in 2017 and Kyler Murray won it the following season.