NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, announced 10 finalists for this year’s award on Thursday. The winner will be announced after the bowls in January. The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that takes the candidates’ bowl performances into consideration in its balloting.
The finalists for this year’s Manning Award are:
| Name, Class, School | Cmp-Att | Pct. | Yards | TD | INT | QBR | Rushing |
| Carson Beck, Jr., Georgia | 268-370 | 72.4 | 3,495 | 22 | 6 | 85.4 | 128 yds, 3 TDs |
| Jayden Daniels, Sr., LSU | 236-327 | 72.2 | 3,812 | 40 | 4 | 95.6 | 1,134 yds, 10 TDs |
| Dillon Gabriel, Sr., Oklahoma | 266-384 | 69.3 | 3,660 | 30 | 6 | 87.3 | 373 yds, 12 TDs |
| Drake Maye, So., North Carolina | 269-425 | 63.3 | 3,608 | 24 | 9 | 79 | 449 yds, 9 TDs |
| J.J. McCarthy, Jr., Michigan | 191-257 | 74.3 | 2,483 | 19 | 4 | 90.8 | 181 yds, 3 TDs |
| Jalen Milroe, So., Alabama | 158-238 | 66.4 | 2,526 | 21 | 6 | 84.4 | 439 yds, 12 TDs |
| Bo Nix, Sr., Oregon | 315-401 | 78.6 | 3,906 | 37 | 2 | 91.1 | 159 yds, 6 TDs |
| Michael Penix Jr., Sr., Washington | 280-427 | 65.6 | 3,899 | 32 | 8 | 82.8 | 3 TDs |
| Jordan Travis, Sr., Florida State | 207-324 | 63.9 | 2,755 | 20 | 2 | 79.7 | 176 yds, 7 TDs |
| Caleb Williams, Jr., USC | 266-388 | 68.6 | 3,633 | 30 | 5 | 82.3 | 136 yds, 11 TDs |
“I feel really good about our list of 10 finalists for this year’s Manning Award; and I want to thank our voters for taking the time to select the best quarterbacks each year,” said Archie Manning. “Every one of these quarterbacks has led his team to bowl eligibility, five of them have their teams playing in conference championships this weekend, and seven of them already have 10-win seasons. This is a group of outstanding players and I commend them on their success.”
Statistically, the group of finalists excels in nearly every category as they have combined for a total of 275 touchdowns with nearly 34,000 yards – and they get it done with their legs as well, as they’ve combined for 76 rushing touchdowns. The group has thrown more than five times as many touchdown passes as interceptions.
The list includes five seniors, four juniors, and one sophomore. The SEC and the Pac-12 lead the way with three honorees each, while the ACC adds two and the Big 12 and the Big Ten each have one.
In its first 19 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 14 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Stetson Bennett, Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with eight Manning Award honorees, 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 had four Manning Award winners. Alabama (Bryce Young and Jones), LSU (Burrow and Russell), Oklahoma (Murray and Mayfield), and Texas (McCoy and Vince Young) have each produced a pair of Manning Award winners.
Statistically, the Manning Award has seen a wide-range of quarterbacks. Sixteen of the Manning Award men threw for over 3,000 yards in their winning campaign, 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, Manziel, Murray, Newton, Watson (in 2015) and Vince Young were all 1,000-yard rushers during their Manning years.
Perhaps most impressive among the statistics of the quarterbacks recognized by the Manning Award is touchdowns scored. Thirteen of the winners accounted for over 40 touchdowns during their successful seasons – Burrow’s 65 touchdowns (60 passing, five rushing) broke Mariota’s record (58 in 2014) for touchdowns by a Manning Award winner.
One of the more unique aspects of the Manning Award is the fact that it takes account of the quarterbacks’ bowl performances, in addition to the regular season. Sixteen of the 19 Manning Award winners won bowl games during the season they won the honor. Fourteen Manning Award honorees led their teams to the CFP Semifinals or a BCS Championship game appearance (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 factored prominently in the NFL Draft as they all heard their names called on Draft Day. Seven honorees were selected No. 1 overall (Burrow, Mayfield, Murray, Newton, Russell, Winston, and Bryce Young), while four others went No. 2 or No. 3 (Griffin III, Mariota, Ryan and Vince Young).
All the 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 the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft, while both Peyton and Eli were selected No. 1 overall.
In addition to the Manning Award’s yearly honor, each week during the regular season, eight quarterbacks are recognized as Manning Quarterbacks of the Week. Sixty players from 58 different schools were honored during the 2022 season and 491 different quarterbacks from 132 schools have been recognized since 2011.
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