Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez named Manning Award Quarterback of the Week

NEW ORLEANS – Adrian Martinez, a junior from the University of Nebraska, has been selected as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week. He earns the honor over seven other Manning Award Stars of the Week in the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Facebook contest.

Facebook Voting

Martinez, a Fresno, Calif., native, completed 11-of-17 passes for 202 yards and one touchdown, while also running for three first-quarter scores, as he led the Cornhuskers to a 56-7 Big Ten victory over Northwestern. The offense registered 250-plus yards of offense for a school-record seventh straight game.

The 6-foot-2, 212-pound signal caller has started every game this season completing nearly 67 percent of his passes (100-of-150) for 1,463 yards and six touchdowns, becoming the first player in school history with four 1,000-yard passing seasons.

Martinez and the Cornhuskers will welcome No. 9 Michigan to Lincoln on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC.

Nebraska fans vaulted Martinez to the victory with over 9,000 votes, the most for a quarterback since Mississippi State fans surpassed that total twice during Dak Prescott’s memorable senior campaign. The closest competition this week came from Hendon Hooker of Tennessee and Mississippi State’s Will Rogers. Hooker, who ran for 80 yards and a touchdown, completed 15-of-19 passes for 225 yards and three scores while leading the Volunteers to scores on their first nine possessions in a 62-24 SEC win over Missouri on the road. Rogers notched his second 400-yard game of the season by completing 46-of-59 passes for 408 yards as he led the Bulldogs to a 26-22 SEC win over No. 15 Texas A&M on the road.

While the Manning Award selected 32 quarterbacks for its preseason Watch List, additional quarterbacks are expected to be added to the Watch List later in the season. Ten finalists will be selected and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

In its first 17 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 (Mac Jones, Joe Burrow, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with six 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. LSU (Burrow and Russell), Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield) and Texas (McCoy and Young) have each had two different winners.

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.