Allstate Sugar Bowl announces Manning Award finalists for 2017

Eleven Quarterbacks Will Vie for Annual Honor Through Bowl Season

NEW ORLEANS – The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, announced 11 finalists for this year’s award on Thursday. The winner will be announced after the bowls in January and will be honored at a ceremony in New Orleans. The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that takes the candidates’ bowl performances into consideration in its balloting.

The finalists for this year’s Manning Award are:
J.T. Barrett, Sr., Ohio State
Kelly Bryant, Jr., Clemson
Sam Darnold, So., USC
Jalen Hurts, So., Alabama
Lamar Jackson, Jr., Louisville
Baker Mayfield, Sr., Oklahoma
Trace McSorley, Jr., Penn State
McKenzie Milton, So., UCF
Mason Rudolph, Sr., Oklahoma State
Jarrett Stidham, So., Auburn
Kahlil Tate, So., Arizona

“We’ve had a great year of college football once again,” said Archie Manning. “Quarterbacks all around the country had great performances week-in and week-out and I want to thank our voting panel for the time and effort they put into selecting the best in the country for this honor. Now we all have the opportunity to watch these outstanding players in the biggest games of the year – the conference championships, the bowl games and the playoff games. I’m looking forward to another exciting finish to the season.”

Statistically, the group of finalists excels in nearly every category as they average over 3,000 yards passing while accounting for a total of 357 touchdowns. The group has thrown nearly four times as many touchdown passes as interceptions. In addition, six of the finalists ran for over 400 yards on the year with eight of them tallying eight or more rushing touchdowns. Eight of the 10 led their teams to double digits in victories, while all 11 have led their teams to bowl eligibility. Six of this year’s Manning Award finalists will be competing in conference championship games this weekend.

This year’s group includes five returning finalists from last year – J.T. Barrett, Sam Darnold, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield – Barrett and Mayfield are making their third appearances on the finalist list. The list is led by five sophomores – the most underclassmen finalists in the award’s history – as well as three seniors and three juniors. The finalists are evenly distributed between six different conferences, the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC each have two representatives while the AAC has one.

In its first 13 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 11 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (Deshaun Watson twice, Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston) lead the way with four Manning Award wins each, while Texas is the only school with two different winners (Colt McCoy and Vince Young).

All of the Manning Award winners follow in the footsteps of the Mannings themselves. In college, Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning combined for over 25,000 passing yards and 201 touchdowns while playing in 10 bowl games and earning four bowl MVP awards. Archie was the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft, while both Peyton and Eli were selected No. 1 overall.

In addition to the Manning Award’s yearly honor, each week during the regular season, eight quarterbacks are recognized as Manning Quarterbacks of the Week. Sixty-three players from 60 different schools were honored during the 2017 season.