Colorado Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders was placed on the waiting list for the Davey O’Brien Award on Thursday.
The award, given by the Davey O’Brien Foundation, honors the nation’s best quarterback. O’Brien played for TCU in the 1930s and won the Heisman Trophy in 1938.
The award was created in 1977, the year O’Brien died, and has been reserved for quarterbacks only since 1981. Previous winners include former Denver Broncos Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow.
Sanders, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound senior, is considered one of the best quarterbacks in the country this season. He threw for a school-record 3,230 yards for the Buffs after transferring from Jackson State last year. He also threw 27 touchdowns and just three interceptions and set a school record for best single-season passer percentage (69.3).
Sanders was previously nominated for the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Award, two separate and significant awards for the national football player of the year.
CU’s Darian Hagan was the runner-up for the Davey O’Brien Award in 1989. Sanders is only the seventh quarterback in CU history to make the watch list.
Koy Detmer was a finalist for the award in 1996, while Kordell Stewart (1994) and John Hessler (1997) were both semifinalists. Since 1997, Sanders is only the third CU quarterback to make the watch list, joining Joel Klatt in 2005 and Steven Montez in 2019.
