Manning Award announces preseason watchlist for college football's top quarterback

The Manning Award, which is given annually to the best quarterback in college football, has released its watchlist for the 2024 season.

It’s no surprise that the list includes Georgia star Carson Beck, Texas star Quinn Ewers and plenty of other notable quarterbacks.

However, the list also has a few surprises ahead of the 2024 college football season. Here is the full list of quarterbacks on the Manning Award watchlist:

Joey Aguilar, Appalachian State
Drew Allar, Penn State
Rocco Becht, Iowa State
Carson Beck, Georgia
Alan Bowman, Oklahoma State
Byrum Brown, USF
Hudson Card, Purdue
Thomas Castellanos, Boston College
Cade Klubnik, Clemson
Brady Cook, Missouri
Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss
Kyron Drones, Virginia Tech
Quinn Ewers, Texas
Noah Fifita, Arizona
Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, Colo. St.
Garrett Greene, West Virginia
Seth Henigan, Memphis
Mikey Keene, Fresno State
Haynes King, Georgia Tech
Graham Mertz, Florida
Jalen Milroe, Alabama
Jaylen Raynor, Arkansas State
Kaidon Salter, Liberty
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
Brayden Schager, Hawaii
Donovan Smith, Houston
Preston Stone, SMU
Nicholas Vattiato, Middle Tenn.
Jacob Zeno, UAB

The Manning Award has been presented to the top quarterback in college football every year since 2004. It is judged by the Sugar Bowl committee. It is named after Archie Manning, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning.

LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels won the Manning Award last season after also winning the Heisman Trophy. Other past winners include Bryce Young, Joe Burrow and Deshaun Watson.

This year’s Manning Award watchlist includes 29 players. Of those 29, two were finalists for last year’s award in Carson Beck of Georgia and Jalen Milroe of Alabama.

Those two met in last year’s SEC Championship game, with the Crimson Tide pulling off the upset. Georgia and Alabama will meet during the regular season on Sept. 28. They could also face off in the SEC title game or in the College Football Playoff later in the year.

Other top QBs going into the season who could become real contenders to win the Manning Award include Brady Cook of Missouri, Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss, Quinn Ewers of Texas and Shedeur Sanders of Colorado.

The 2024 college football season gets underway on Aug. 24 with Florida State taking on Georgia Tech. Most teams will begin play the following weekend, with some of the bigger matchups being Clemson against Georgia, Miami at Florida, Notre Dame at Texas A&M and USC against LSU.

The 2024 college football season should be a fun one, with plenty of good quarterbacks to go around.