FORT WORTH, Texas – The Davey O’Brien Foundation announced BYU quarterback Taysom Hill has been named to the 2015 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List Thursday, a group that includes two dozen of the nation’s top college quarterbacks.
The 6-foot-2, 232-pound Hill makes the list for the second consecutive year after leading the Cougars to a 4-0 start in 2014 before a season-ending injury in his fifth game. The senior completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 975 yards and seven touchdowns in 2014, adding another 460 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. He is BYU’s career leader in quarterback rushing yards and No. 11 in career total offense with 6,478 total yards. In 2013, Hill passed for 2,938 yards and rushed for 1,344. He passed for 19 touchdowns and rushed for another 10.
This is Hill's third preseason watch list selection after being named to the Maxwell Award and Wuerffel Trophy watch lists. He has also been named the 2015 Phil Steele Preseason All-Independent team.
This year’s list, which was compiled by a subset of the Davey O’Brien National Selection Committee, was selected based on player performance during the previous year and expectations heading into the 2015 college football season. All nominees were required to have started at least one game at their current institution previously.
Two of the three Davey O’Brien Award finalists from 2014, TCU’s Trevone Boykin and Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott, headline the list. Both players are back for their senior seasons. In addition, one semifinalist from a year ago, Michigan State senior Connor Cook, also returns.
Players appearing on the watch list for the second straight year include: Cook and Prescott, along with Jared Goff (California), Christian Hackenberg (Penn State), Hill, Kevin Hogan (Stanford), Chuckie Keeton (Utah State), Cody Kessler (USC) and Keenan Reynolds (Navy).
Cardale Jones, who guided Ohio State to the national championship in January, is among 15 quarterbacks on the watch list for the first time. Also included are: Boykin, Joshua Dobbs (Tennessee), Brandon Doughty (Western Kentucky), Blake Frohnapfel (UMass), Jeremy Johnson (Auburn), Brad Kaaya (Miami), Gunner Kiel (Cincinnati), Fredi Knighten (Arkansas State), Paxton Lynch (Memphis), Anu Solomon (Arizona), Zach Terrell (Western Michigan), Justin Thomas (Georgia Tech), Deshaun Watson (Clemson) and Marquise Williams (North Carolina).
Nearly half (11 of 24) of the players on the watch list are seniors. Eight juniors and five sophomores round out the contingent. Among leagues, the Pac-12 Conference (4) and Atlantic Coast Conference (4) lead the way. Other conferences with multiple members on the watch list include: American Athletic (3), Big Ten (3), Southeastern (3) and Mid-American (2).
Appearing on the Watch List is not a requirement for a player to win the Davey O’Brien Award. Quarterbacks from all 128 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools are eligible for the award. The field will be narrowed to 16 semifinalists on Monday, Nov. 2. From that list, the Foundation and the Selection Committee will announce the three finalists on Tuesday, Nov. 24. The 2015 Davey O’Brien winner will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards on Thursday, Dec. 10.
The 2015 season marks the ninth year that fans will be invited to participate in the voting process. The Davey O’Brien Fan Vote will be combined with the results from the Selection Committee. Voting will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Previous winners include: Jim McMahon (BYU, 1981), Todd Blackledge (Penn State, 1982), Steve Young (BYU, 1983), Doug Flutie (Boston College, 1984), Chuck Long (Iowa, 1985), Vinny Testaverde (Miami, 1986), Don McPherson (Syracuse, 1987), Troy Aikman (UCLA, 1988), Andre Ware (Houston, 1989), Ty Detmer (BYU, 1990-91), Gino Torretta (Miami, 1992), Charlie Ward (Florida State, 1993), Kerry Collins (Penn State, 1994), Danny Wuerffel (Florida, 1995-96), Peyton Manning (Tennessee, 1997), Michael Bishop (Kansas State, 1998), Joe Hamilton (Georgia Tech, 1999), Chris Weinke (Florida State, 2000), Eric Crouch (Nebraska, 2001), Brad Banks (Iowa, 2002), Jason White (Oklahoma, 2003-04), Vince Young (Texas, 2005), Troy Smith (Ohio State, 2006), Tim Tebow (Florida, 2007), Sam Bradford (Oklahoma, 2008), Colt McCoy (Texas, 2009), Cam Newton (Auburn, 2010), Robert Griffin III (Baylor, 2011), Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M, 2012), Jameis Winston (Florida State, 2013) and Marcus Mariota (Oregon, 2014).
The 39th Annual Davey O’Brien Awards Dinner will be held Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, in Fort Worth, Texas.
By Conference: Pac-12 (4), ACC (4), AAC (3), Big Ten (3), SEC (3), MAC (2), Big 12 (1), CUSA (1), Mountain West (1), Sun Belt (1), Independents (1). By Class: Senior (11), Junior (8), Sophomore (5).
About the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award
The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award is presented annually to the nation’s best college quarterback and is the oldest and most prestigious national quarterback award. The Davey O’Brien Award honors candidates who exemplify Davey O’Brien’s enduring character while exhibiting teamwork, sportsmanship and leadership in both academics and athletics. The award is overseen by the Davey O’Brien Foundation, which is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, and has given away more than $900,000 in scholarships and university grants to help high school and college athletes transform leadership on the field into leadership in life. For more information, visit www.DaveyOBrien.org.