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PROVO — Tanner Mangum of BYU football has been named to another award watch list this preseason.
Mangum, already on the watch list for the Maxwell Award, was selected for the Davey O’Brien Award watch list Wednesday. The Davey O’Brien Award is presented annually to the nation’s best quarterback.
As a sophomore, Mangum only started in the Poinsettia Bowl but led the Cougars to a 24-21 victory over Wyoming. As a freshman, Mangum started 12 games and broke several BYU freshman records such as passing yards (3,377) and touchdowns (23). That season he was also named the National Freshman of the Year by the Touchdown Club of Columbus.
BYU quarterbacks have a legacy with the Davey O’Brien Award as several Cougar quarterbacks have won the award more than any other school in history. Jim McMahon and Steve Young each won the award once, while current BYU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Ty Detmer won the award twice.
Mangum is the lone representative on the Davey O’Brien Award watch list from a Utah school and is the only independent player to make the list. The SEC has six quarterbacks on the watch list while the ACC, Big 12 and the Pac-12 each have four quarterbacks on the watch list.
Lamar Jackson of Louisville and Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma were finalists for the award last year and headline the watch list again this season. Mangum will be in good company with other notable candidates of the award like J.T. Barrett of Ohio State, Jalen Hurts of Alabama, Jake Browning of Washington and Sam Darnold of USC. Deshaun Watson of Clemson won the award the past two seasons. Past winners of the O’Brien Award include several current and former NFL stars such as Marcus Mariota, Cam Newton, Sam Bradford, Peyton Manning and Troy Aikman.
The award's namesake played for TCU in the late 1930s. He led his team to an undefeated season and a national championship in 1938. O’Brien was also named to 13 All-American teams and was the first player to win the Heisman, Maxwell and Walter Camp awards in the same year.
The semifinalists for the Davey O’Brien Award will be revealed on Nov. 7. The finalists will be announced on Nov. 21. The winner of the award will be announced as part of the Home Depot College Football Awards on Dec. 7, which will be aired on ESPN.
