Uiagalelei named to Davey O'Brien Award Watch List
FORT WORTH, Texas (July 20, 2021) – The Davey O’Brien Foundation revealed the 2021 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List today, a group that includes 30 of the nation’s top returning college quarterbacks.
Compiled by a subset of the Davey O’Brien National Selection Committee, this year’s list was selected based on career player performance and expectations heading into the 2021 college football season. All nominees are required to have previously started at least one game at an NCAA Division I institution.
Twelve of the watch list members are previous Davey O’Brien Award semifinalists, including a trio of two-time semifinalists in Miami’s D’Eriq King (2018, 2020), Florida State’s McKenzie Milton (2017, 2018) and Iowa State’s Brock Purdy (2019, 2020). The other previous semifinalists are Utah’s Charlie Brewer (2019), Matt Corral of Ole Miss (2020), UCF’s Dillon Gabriel (2020), Sam Howell of North Carolina (2020), Coastal Carolina’s Grayson McCall (2020), Tanner Morgan of Minnesota (2019), Indiana’s Michael Penix Jr. (2020), Spencer Rattler of Oklahoma (2020) and Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder (2020).
The other watch list honorees are: Connor Bazelak (Missouri), Malik Cunningham (Louisville), Dustin Crum (Kent State), Jayden Daniels (Arizona State), JT Daniels (Georgia), Max Duggan (TCU), Frank Harris (UTSA), Phil Jurkovec (Boston College), Levi Lewis (Louisiana), Graham Mertz (Wisconsin), Spencer Sanders (Oklahoma State), Kedon Slovis, (USC), Nick Starkel (San Jose State), Carson Strong (Nevada), Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA), D.J. Uiagalelei (Clemson), Grant Wells (Marshall) and Malik Willis (Liberty).
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. Appearing on the preseason watch list is not a requirement for a player to win the award.
For the second straight year, players honored as weekly Davey O’Brien Great 8 recipients, as well as any additional quarterbacks approved by the selection subcommittee, will be added to form the official Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2021, which will be announced on Monday, Oct. 25.
Sixteen semifinalists selected from the QB Class of 2021 list will be named on Monday, Nov. 8. The Foundation will announce the three finalists two weeks later (Monday, Nov. 22). The 2021 Davey O’Brien Award winner will be unveiled live on ESPN on Thursday, Dec. 9, during The Home Depot College Football Awards. Fan voting on social media will again play a role in the semifinalist, finalist and winner voting totals when combined with the national selection committee’s ballots.
The 45th Annual Davey O’Brien Awards Dinner is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 21, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas.