NEW ORLEANS (August 15, 2024) – The Manning Award, presented by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, announced its preseason watch list on Thursday. The list includes 29 of the nation’s best quarterbacks for the 2024 season. The winner will be selected again after the postseason by a voting committee that includes national media and each of the Mannings.
The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl to honor the accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning in college football. It is the only quarterback award whose voting takes into account the candidates’ postseason performance.
“The start of college football is always an exciting time of year,” said Archie Manning. “There is a lot of anticipation on campuses across the country, and the quarterback position always draws a lot of attention and scrutiny. We hope the Manning Award watch list brings positive attention to many of the best returning quarterbacks who have big years ahead of them. And once the season begins, we’ll revisit things and expand our watch list to include transfer players and young quarterbacks who have already begun to make their mark on the game.”
Inclusion on the watch list is not required for quarterbacks to be selected for this award. Transfer players and other new additions to schools were not eligible for the preseason watch list, but additional quarterbacks will be added to the watch list during the season. Finalists will be selected before the postseason and the winner will be announced after the College Football Playoff National Championship.
“Every year, the Allstate Sugar Bowl is honored to join the Manning family in recognizing outstanding performances by quarterbacks from across the country,” said Jeff Hundley, CEO of the Allstate Sugar Bowl. “We look forward to another great college football season and the opportunity to honor the best quarterback in the country next spring in New Orleans.”
This year’s watch list includes players from eight Football Bowl Subdivision conferences. The Big 12 and SEC lead with six selections, followed by the ACC with five. The American and Mountain West each have three selections.
Two of last year’s Manning Award finalists are also on this year’s watch list: Carson Beck (Georgia) and Jalen Milroe (Alabama).
2024 Manning Award Preseason Watch List (2023 Stats)
| player | Class | School | QBR | Percent. | Shipyards | TD | INT | Rush |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joey Aguilar | Fr. | Appalachian State | 73.2 | 63.7 | 3,757 | 33 | 10 | 249 yards, 3 touchdowns |
| Drew Allar | Fr. | Penn State | 72.7 | 59.9 | 2,631 | 25 | 2 | 210 yards, 4 touchdowns |
| Rocco Becht | So. | State of Iowa | 67.9 | 62.9 | 3,120 | 23 | 8 | 63 yards, 3 touchdowns |
| Carson Beck | Fr. | Georgia | 85.2 | 72.4 | 3,941 | 24 | 6 | 116 yards, 4 touchdowns |
| Alan Bowman | Fr. | State of Oklahoma | 64.4 | 60.7 | 3,460 | 15 | 14 | 2 touchdowns |
| Byrum Brown | So. | USF | 56.6 | 64.8 | 3,292 | 26 | 11 | 809 yards, 11 touchdowns |
| Hudson Map | Fr. | Purdue | 50.6 | 58.9 | 2,387 | 15 | 8 | 203 yards, 5 touchdowns |
| Thomas Castellanos | Fr. | Boston College | 63.7 | 57.3 | 2,248 | 15 | 14 | 1,099 meters, 13 touchdowns |
| Cade Klubnik | Fr. | Clemson | 58.4 | 63.9 | 2,844 | 19 | 9 | 169 meters, 4 touchdowns |
| Brady Cook | Fr. | Missouri | 77.2 | 66.1 | 3,317 | 21 | 6 | 319 yards, 8 touchdowns |
| Jaxson Dart | Fr. | Ole Miss | 76.7 | 65.1 | 3,364 | 23 | 5 | 391 yards, 8 touchdowns |
| Kyron drones | Fr. | Virginia Tech | 61.2 | 58.2 | 2,084 | 17 | 3 | 818 yards, 5 touchdowns |
| Quinn Ewers | Fr. | Texas | 78.7 | 69 | 3,479 | 22 | 6 | 75 yards, 5 touchdowns |
| Noah Fifita | So. | Arizona | 85.6 | 72.4 | 2,869 | 25 | 6 | N/A |
| Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi | So. | State of Colorado | 52 | 62.1 | 3,460 | 22 | 16 | 1 TD |
| Garrett Greene | Fr. | West Virginia | 76.7 | 55.1 | 2,406 | 16 | 4 | 772 yards, 13 touchdowns |
| Seth Henigan | Fr. | Memphis | 67.9 | 66.8 | 3,883 | 32 | 9 | 259 meters, 5 touchdowns |
| Mikey Keene | Fr. | State of Fresno | 52.2 | 67.1 | 2,976 | 24 | 10 | 1 TD |
| Haynes King | Fr. | Georgia Tech Institute | 72.3 | 61.6 | 2,842 | 27 | 16 | 542 yards, 5 touchdowns |
| Graham Mertz | Fr. | Florida | 68.5 | 72.9 | 2,903 | 20 | 3 | 4 touchdowns |
| Jalen Milroe | Fr. | Alabama | 83.6 | 65.8 | 2,834 | 23 | 6 | 531 yards, 12 TDS |
| Jaylen Raynor | So. | Arkansas | 55.2 | 58.2 | 2,550 | 17 | 7 | 349 meters, 5 touchdowns |
| Kaidon Salter | Fr. | Freedom | 86.2 | 61 | 2,876 | 32 | 6 | 1,089 yards, 12 touchdowns |
| Shedeur Sanders | Fr. | Colorado | 63 | 69.3 | 3,230 | 27 | 3 | 4 touchdowns |
| Brayden Schager | Fr. | Hawaii | 38.2 | 63.2 | 3,542 | 26 | 14 | 54 yards, 2 touchdowns |
| Donovan Smith | Fr. | Houston | 62.9 | 64.5 | 2,801 | 22 | 13 | 428 yards, 6 touchdowns |
| Preston Stone | Fr. | SMU | 71.3 | 59.9 | 3,197 | 28 | 6 | 198 yards, 4 touchdowns |
| Nicholas Vattiato | Fr. | Middle Tennessee. | 45 | 66.8 | 3,092 | 23 | 13 | 397 yards, 2 touchdowns |
| Jacob Zeno | Fr. | UAB | 58.4 | 73.6 | 3.126 | 20 | 9 | 168 yards, 4 touchdowns |
For its first 20 years, the Manning Award recognized the best names in college football, honoring quarterbacks from 14 different schools and four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Jayden Daniels, Stetson Bennett, Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the list with nine Manning Award winners, 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 produced four Manning Award winners. LSU (Daniels, Burrow and Russell) now leads the way with three winners, while Alabama (Bryce Young and Jones), Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield) and Texas (McCoy and Vince Young) have each produced two Manning Award winners.
Statistically, the Manning Award has produced a wide range of quarterbacks. Seventeen of the Manning Award men threw for over 3,000 yards in their winning season, including 4,000-yard seasons from Bennett, Burrow, Griffin III, Jones, Marcus Mariota, Mayfield, Murray, Ryan, Watson (twice), Winston and Bryce Young. On the other hand, Daniels, Manziel, Murray, Newton, Watson (2015) and Vince Young were all 1,000-yard rushers during their Manning years.
Perhaps the most impressive statistic of Manning Award-winning quarterbacks is the touchdowns scored. Fourteen of the winners scored over 40 touchdowns during their winning seasons – Burrow’s 65 touchdowns (60 passing, five rushing) broke Mariota’s record (58 in 2014) for most touchdowns by a Manning Award winner.
One of the more unique aspects of the Manning Award is the fact that it takes into account quarterbacks’ bowl performances in addition to the regular season. Sixteen of the twenty Manning Award winners won bowl games in the season they received the award. Fourteen Manning Award recipients led their teams to the CFP semifinals or an appearance in the BCS championship game (Bennett, Burrow, Jones, Matt Leinart, Mariota, Mayfield, McCoy, Murray, Newton, Tebow, Watson, Winston, and both Bryce and Vince Young). Nine won national championships (Bennett, Burrow, Jones, Leinart, Newton, Tebow, Watson, Winston, and Vince Young).
Previous Manning Award winners have also played a significant role in the NFL Draft, as their names were all called on draft day. Seven award winners were selected No. 1 (Burrow, Mayfield, Murray, Newton, Russell, Winston and Bryce Young), while four others were selected No. 2 or 3 (Griffin III, Mariota, Ryan and Vince Young).
All 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 selected No. 2 in the NFL Draft, while Peyton and Eli were selected No. 1 overall.
In addition to the annual Manning Award, eight quarterbacks are honored as Manning Quarterbacks of the Week each week during the regular season. In the 2023 season, 66 players were honored, and since 2011, 519 different quarterbacks from 133 schools have been honored.
