FORT WORTH, Texas — The Davey O’Brien Foundation today named BYU junior quarterback Zach Wilson one of 16 semifinalists for the 2020 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.
A 6-foot-3, 210-pound junior from Draper, Utah, Wilson has led BYU to a No. 14/16 national ranking in the Associate Press and Amway Coaches polls. The talented signal caller has also garnered Heisman Trophy considerations in addition to being a candidate for the nation’s top quarterback while leading BYU to a 9-1 record.
Triggering BYU’s potent offense, Wilson ranks No. 2 nationally in points responsible for (214), No. 3 in passing touchdowns (27), No. 3 in passing efficiency (197.41), No. 3 in passing yards per attempt (11.10), No. 5 in completion percentage (.730), No. 6 in passing yards (2,964), No. 8 in passing yards per completion (15.2), No. 8 in points responsible for per game (21.4), No. 11 in passing yards per game (296.4) and No. 12 in total offense (321).
As a team, the Cougars rank in the top 10 in 14 different statistical categories and are the only FBS team ranked in the top 10 in scoring offense (No. 8; 44.5 ppg), scoring defense (No. 4; 14.7 ppg), total offense (No. 7; 522.7 ypg) and total defense (No. 8; 299.9 ypg).
The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, first issued in 1981, is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious quarterback award. The Foundation’s national selection committee is comprised of journalists, broadcasters, commentators and former winners.
Three former BYU quarterbacks have won four Davey O’Brien Awards. Consensus All-American Jim McMahon won the inaugural award in 1981. Steve Young was presented the award two seasons later in 1983 and Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer won back-to-back O’Brien Awards in 1990 and 1991.
The next step in the process will be to select the award’s three finalists. Round two of fan voting is now open and will close on Sunday, Dec. 20. National selection committee voting will take place from Dec. 16-20.
The three finalists will be named on Tuesday, Dec. 22. The winner will be announced live on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, on the 30th annual The Home Depot College Football Awards, which will be conducted virtually from 7-8:30 p.m. (ET) on ESPN.
Vote for the finalists
Fans can vote for the three finalists via three Davey O’Brien Award social media platforms and the top vote getter on each platform will each receive the equivalent of two additional committee member ballots. Fan voting will be done by liking the quarterback’s photo from the original post on the official Davey O’Brien social media accounts listed below.
Vote on Instagram
Vote on Twitter
Vote on Facebook
Davey O’Brien Award Semifinalists
Ian Book, Notre Dame, Sr., 6-0, 206, El Dorado Hills, Calif.
Matt Corral, Ole Miss, So., 6-1, 205, Ventura, Calif.
Sam Ehlinger, Texas, Sr., 6-3, 225, Austin, Texas
Justin Fields, Ohio State, Jr., 6-3, 228, Kennesaw, Ga.
Dillon Gabriel, UCF, So., 6-0, 186, Mililani, Hawaii
Sam Howell, North Carolina, So., 6-1, 225, Indian Trail, N.C.
Mac Jones, Alabama, Jr., 6-3, 214, Jacksonville, Fla.
D’Eriq King, Miami, Sr., 5-11, 202, Manvel, Texas
Trevor Lawrence, Clemson, Jr., 6-6, 220, Cartersville, Ga.
Grayson McCall, Coastal Carolina, Fr., 6-3, 200, Indian Trail, N.C.
Kellen Mond, Texas A&M, Sr., 6-3, 217, San Antonio, Texas
*Michael Penix Jr., Indiana, So., 6-3, 218, Tampa, Fla.
Brock Purdy, Iowa State, Jr., 6-1, 212, Gilbert, Ariz.
Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma, Fr., 6-1, 205, Phoenix, Ariz.
Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati, Jr., 6-4, 215, Louisville, Ky.
Kyle Trask, Florida, Sr., 6-5, 240, Manvel, Texas
Zach Wilson, BYU, Jr., 6-3, 210, Draper, Utah
Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Winners
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), Marcus Mariota (Oregon, 2014), Deshaun Watson (Clemson, 2015-16), Baker Mayfield (2017), Kyler Murray (2018) and Joe Burrow (2019).
Davey O’Brien Foundation
The Davey O’Brien Foundation was created in 1977 and the National Quarterback Award was first issued in 1981. Over its time, the Davey O’Brien Foundation has given away more than $1.2 million in scholarships and university grants to help high school and college athletes transform leadership on the field into leadership in life. In 1938, O’Brien, who was a star quarterback for TCU, became the first player ever to win the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Award in the same year. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955.