BATON ROUGE – Record-setting LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels has been selected as one of three finalists for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, the Davey O’Brien selection committee announced on Tuesday.
Daniels is joined by Oregon’s Bo Nix and Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. as finalists.
The Davey O’Brien Award is presented annually to college football’s best quarterback and is the oldest and most prestigious national quarterback award. LSU’s Joe Burrow won the award in 2019.
The winner of the Davey O’Brien Award will be announced on Friday, Dec. 8 as part of the Home Depot College Football Awards Show on ESPN.
Daniels has been nothing short of remarkable this year with numerous accomplishments and five SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Daniels and the Tigers wrapped up the regular season with a 42-30 win over Texas A&M on Saturday. He threw three TD passes in the fourth quarter and rushed for 120 yards as the Tigers overcame a 10-point third-quarter deficit to win their ninth game of the season.
The Texas A&M contest concluded a month of memories for Daniels as against Florida on Nov. 11, he became the first player in FBS history to rush for 200 yards and pass for 350 yards in a game. In the win over the Gators, he rushed for 234 yards and passed for 372 yards on his way to setting the SEC record for total offense with 606 yards.
A week later on Nov. 18 against Georgia State, he tied the LSU single-game record for total touchdowns when he produced eight (6 passing, 2 rushing) in the win over the Panthers, tying the mark previously set by Heisman winner Joe Burrow in 2019.
A leading candidate for the Heisman, Daniels has been the best overall quarterback in college football this year as he leads the nation in total offense with 412.2 yards per game. He leads the FBS in TD passes with 40 and he’s rushed for another 10 for a nation’s best 50 TDs responsible for.
He became only the fifth player in SEC history to reach the 50-touchdown mark in a season, joining Burrow (63), Tim Tebow (55), Cam Newton (51) and Bryce Young – all Heisman Trophy winners.
Daniels has accounted for at least four TDs in nine games this year, one shy of the school record and he’s reached the 400-yard mark in total offense six times. He joined Burrow as the only players in LSU history to have three 500-yard games of total offense in a season.
He’s also the nation’s leading rusher for a player at his position, totaling 1,134 yards on 135 carries. His 8.4 yards per carry is the best in the FBS for a player with at least 100 rushing attempts.
Overall, Daniels has thrown for 3,812 yards, connecting on 236-of-327 passes with only four interceptions. He joined Johnny Manziel as the only players in SEC history to pass for 3,500 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Manziel did it in 2012 and won the Heisman Trophy that year.
Daniels has been the catalyst behind an LSU offense that leads the nation in total offense (547.8) and scoring (46.4). The Tigers are the only team in college football to average 300 passing yards and 200 rushing yards a contest. LSU ranks No. 4 nationally in passing yards per game (334.3) and No. 7 in rushing with a 213.5 average.
The LSU offense also features the nation’s leader in receiving yards in Malik Nabers and the top two touchdown producers at wide receiver in Brian Thomas (15) along with Nabers (14).
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 $1.3 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.
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 47th Annual Davey O’Brien Awards Dinner honoring the winner will be held Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, at The Fort Worth Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
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