IU Athletics Release

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana redshirt junior quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was named to the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List, the Davey O'Brien Foundation announced on Tuesday morning. Penix, who was named to the Maxwell Award Watch List on Monday, is one of 30 quarterbacks on the list.

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 Penix (2020) and 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), Spencer Rattler of Oklahoma (2020), and Cincinnati's Desmond Ridder (2020).

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.

A 2020 team captain, Penix was a second-team All-Big Ten honoree (coaches, media) and IU's Anthony Thompson Most Valuable Player alongside linebacker Micah McFadden.

The Tampa native completed 124-of-220 (56.4 percent) for 1,645 yards with 14 touchdowns and four interceptions, and he rushed for a pair of TDs. He averaged a Big Ten-leading 274.2 yards per game (18th nationally) and recorded a 136.54 pass-efficiency rating.

Penix started all six games in which he appeared before he suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the Maryland win (Nov. 28). Entering the Terrapins game, he led the league in passing yardage, passing yardage per game (312.2, 9th nationally), passing scores, completions, attempts, 60-yard passing plays (4, T-2nd), 50-yarders (6, T-7th), 40-yarders (tied 6, T-33rd), and 30-yarders (11, T-39th).

The southpaw owns a 10-2 record as a starter and is 255-of-414 (61.6, 2nd in program history) for 3,258 yards with 25 touchdowns, eight INTs, and a 143.8 pass-efficiency rating in 15 games. He has 189 yards on the ground on 47 attempts (4.0 average) with four TDs.

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.

About the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award
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 Davey O'Brien Award honors candidates who exemplify Davey O'Brien's enduring character while exhibiting teamwork, sportsmanship and leadership in both academics and athletics. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the Davey O'Brien Foundation has awarded 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. For more information, visit www.DaveyOBrien.org.

Previous Davey O'Brien Award winners include: 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 (Oklahoma, 2017), Kyler Murray (Oklahoma, 2018), Joe Burrow (LSU, 2019) and Mac Jones (Alabama, 2020).

About the National College Football Awards Association
The Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses college football's most prestigious awards. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA and its 25 awards now boast over 800 recipients, dating to 1935. Visit ncfaa.org to learn more about the association.

The members of the NCFAA are unveiling their preseason watch lists over a two-week period this month. Sixteen of the association's awards select a preseason watch list and the NCFAA has spearheaded a coordinated effort to promote each award's preseason candidates.

American Airlines is the official travel partner of the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award.

Indiana Football 2021 Preseason Watch Lists
Dodd Trophy – Tom Allen
Maxwell Award – Ty Fryfogle, Michael Penix Jr.
Bednarik Award – Micah McFadden, Tiawan Mullen
Davey O'Brien Award – Michael Penix Jr.

The Huddle

Indiana Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Named to the Davey O'Brien Award Watch List

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