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Stanford’s Andrew Luck Named to Manning Award Watch List

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Sophomore star Andrew Luck (official bio) from Stanford University is the first player to be announced as a member of the preseason Watch List for the 2010-11 Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The Bowl is releasing the Watch List one player at a time on its official Facebook and Twitter pages. The Manning Award has honored the top quarterback in the nation for the past six years.

Allstate Sugar Bowl on Facebook

Allstate Sugar Bowl on Twitter

Luck passed for 2,575 yards and 13 touchdowns last season as a redshirt freshman, leading the Cardinal to a slot in the Sun Bowl. He was at the helm of the highest scoring team in school history after becoming the first freshman to win the starting quarterback job coming out of fall camp since Chad Hutchinson in 1996. His sound decision-making and accuracy led to a Pac-10 Conference-best 143.5 pass efficiency rating, and he also proved to be a threat outside of the pocket, as he rushed for 354 yards on 61 carries -  the most rushing yardage by a Stanford quarterback since Gene Washington in 1966. Luck, who is projected by many to be the No. 1 pick in next spring's NFL Draft, will be directing an offense that lost Heisman finalist Toby Gerhart to the NFL. The Cardinal open the 2010 campaign by hosting Sacramento State on Sept. 4.

Aug. 29 New York Times feature on Luck

Aug. 26 San Francisco Chronicle story on how soon Luck will go pro

Here's a recent story about Luck from ESPN's Ivan Maisel

2010-11 Manning Award Watch List Photo Gallery

The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in 2004 to honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that takes into consideration the candidates' bowl performances. Ten finalists will be selected in late-November and the winner will be announced after the bowls in January and will be honored at a ceremony in New Orleans.

The preseason Watch List recognizes some of the top quarterbacks in the nation based on previous collegiate performance, however, every quarterback in the nation remains eligible for the honor. Additional quarterbacks may be added to the Watch List after the start of the season. The list of 10 finalists will be released on Monday, Nov. 29. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

The Manning Award will be recognizing its seventh winner this year. USC's Matt Leinart was the inaugural winner of the award in 2005, followed by Texas' Vince Young in 2006. Both went on to be top 10 NFL draft picks. In 2007, LSU's JaMarcus Russell earned the award and was the NFL's No. 1 draft pick. Boston College's Matt Ryan claimed the award in 2008 and was drafted No. 3, quickly becoming the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. In 2009, Florida star Tim Tebow earned the honor - he also went on to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Last year's winner was Texas signal-caller Colt McCoy, the winningest quarterback in college football history. McCoy was picked by the Cleveland Browns in the 2010 NFL Draft.

-AllstateSugarBowl.org-