Allstate Sugar Bowl announces 2022 Manning Award Watch List

National Honor Recognizes Top Quarterback in Country After Bowls

NEW ORLEANS – The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, announced its preseason Watch List on Thursday. The list includes 30 of the top quarterbacks in the nation heading into the 2022 season. The winner will again be selected by a voting panel, which includes national media and each of the Mannings, after the bowls.

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 includes the candidates’ bowl performances in its balloting.

“It’s always an exciting time of year when college football gets rolling again,” said Archie Manning. “We’re excited to spotlight these 30 outstanding young men as Manning Award candidates based on what they’ve done already at their schools. And like every year, we know there will be a lot of quarterbacks who step forward during the season as their roles develop or as they settle into new teams. We plan to make additions to our Watch List by midseason.”

Inclusion on the Watch List is not necessary for the quarterbacks to be selected for the honor. Additional quarterbacks are expected to be added to the Watch List during the season. Finalists will be selected prior to the postseason and the winner will be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

“The Allstate Sugar Bowl is proud to recognize these outstanding quarterbacks from around the country,” said Jeff Hundley, the CEO of the Allstate Sugar Bowl. “We’re also honored that this will be our 19th year sponsoring the Manning Award. This gives the Sugar Bowl the opportunity to honor outstanding young men and to thank the Manning family for everything they’ve done for college football.”

This year’s Watch List includes players from all 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences. The SEC leads the way with six selections, while the ACC and Big Ten have five each.

Five of last year’s Manning Award finalists are included on this year’s Watch List, led by the 2021 Manning Award winner Bryce Young from Alabama. Joining Young as returning finalists are Brennan Armstrong (Virginia), Sam Hartman (Wake Forest), Will Rogers (Mississippi State) and C.J. Stroud (Ohio State).

2022 Manning Award Preseason Watch List (2021 stats)

In its first 18 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 13 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Young, Joe Burrow, Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with seven Manning Award honorees, while the Big 12 Conference (Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Vince Young, Colt McCoy and Robert Griffin III) has had five winners. The Atlantic Coast Conference (Deshaun Watson twice, Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston) has had four Manning Award winners. Alabama (Young and Jones) joins LSU (Burrow and Russell), Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield) and Texas (McCoy and Young) as the only schools with two different winners.

Statistically, the Manning Award has seen a wide-range of quarterbacks. Fifteen of the Manning Award men threw for over 3,000 yards in their winning campaign, including 4,000-yard seasons from Burrow, Griffin III, Jones, Marcus Mariota, Mayfield, Murray, Ryan, Watson (twice), Winston and Bryce Young. On the other hand, Manziel, Murray, Newton, Watson (in 2015) and Young were all 1,000-yard rushers during their Manning years.

Perhaps most impressive among the statistics of the quarterbacks recognized by the Manning Award is touchdowns scored. Thirteen of the winners accounted for over 40 touchdowns during their successful seasons – Burrow’s 65 touchdowns (60 passing, five rushing) broke Mariota’s record (58 in 2014) for touchdowns by a Manning Award winner.

One of the more unique aspects of the Manning Award is the fact that it takes account of the quarterbacks’ bowl performances, in addition to the regular season. Fifteen of the 18 Manning Award winners won bowl games during the season they won the honor. Thirteen Manning Award honorees led their teams to the CFP Semifinals or a BCS Championship game appearance (Burrow, Jones, Matt Leinart, Mariota, Mayfield, McCoy, Murray, Newton, Tebow, Watson, Winston and both Bryce and Vince Young). Eight won national championships (Burrow, Jones, Leinart, Newton, Tebow, Watson, Winston and Vince Young).

Previous Manning Award winners have also factored prominently in the NFL Draft as they all heard their names called on Draft Day. Six honorees were selected No. 1 overall (Burrow, Mayfield, Murray, Newton, Russell and Winston), while four others went No. 2 or No. 3 (Griffin, Mariota, Ryan and Vince Young).

All 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-seven players from 66 different schools were honored during the 2021 season and 464 different quarterbacks from 129 schools have been recognized since 2011.