College football’s annual Davey O’Brien Award watch list was revealed on Wednesday and here are some early favorites.
Everyone loves a good quarterback. Luckily, the 2017 college football season will yield a ton of talented gunslingers and might be one of the deepest classes in quite some time. Heck, even the underclassmen are insanely talented.
On Wednesday, the 2017 Davey O’Brien Award watch list was announced. It’s given annually to the country’s top quarterback. There were some major names on the list that seemed to stick out above the rest, but who should be considered the early favorite?
My preseason pick to win the award is Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield. While he may not be the most NFL-ready quarterback, although I think he’ll be a solid pro, he has been a monster at the collegiate level and is due for yet another big year. He’s losing Dede Westbrook, but Oklahoma’s offense still shouldn’t miss a beat.
Other guys who could take home the award are reigning Heisman winner Lamar Jackson of Louisville, Alabama’s Jalen Hurts, Washington’s Jake Browning, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph, Florida State’s Deondre Francois, Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett, USC’s Sam Darnold, Penn State’s Trace McSorley, Georgia’s Jacob Eason and Ole Miss’ Shea Patterson.
The winner of this year’s award will likely be a stud in the NFL because he will have to beat out a ton of talented passers.
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Last year’s winner was Clemson’s Deshaun Watson who happened to win for the second straight season. Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Johnny Manziel, Robert Griffin III and Cam Newton round out the list of winners since 2010. Most of that group has done well for itself in the NFL.