Penix lands on Davey O’Brien Award watch list

Thirty lauded passers landed on the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List on Tuesday. Unsurprisingly, Indiana’s Michael Penix was one of them.

For Penix, it’s his second preseason watch list placement in two days after securing a spot on the Maxwell Award preseason honor roll on Monday. He was also a mid-season watch list honoree during the 2020 season.

Penix, who started all six games in which he appeared before suffering a season-ending ACL tear in late November, completed 56.4% of his passes for 1,645 yards and 14 touchdowns with four interceptions. He averaged a Big Ten-leading 274.2 yards per game and recorded a 136.54 pass-efficiency rating.

The Tampa native is one of only three Big Ten quarterbacks to see their names listed, joining Wisconsin’s Graham Mertz and Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan. 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 season. All nominees are required to have previously started at least one game at a Division I program.

The full list can be found below:

• Connor Bazelak, Missouri
• Charlie Brewer, Utah
• Matt Corral, Ole Miss
• Malik Cunningham, Louisville
• Dustin Crum, Kent State
• Jayden Daniels, Arizona State
• JT Daniels, Georgia
• Max Duggan, TCU
• Dillon Gabriel, UCF
• Frank Harris, UTSA
• Sam Howell, North Carolina
• Phil Jurkovec, Boston College
• D’Eriq King, Miami
• Levi Lewis, Louisiana
• Grayson McCall, Coastal Carolina
• Graham Mertz, Wisconsin
• McKenzie Milton, Florida State
• Tanner Morgan, Minnesota
• Michael Penix Jr., Indiana
• Brock Purdy, Iowa State
• Spencer Rattler, Oklahoma
• Desmond Ridder, Cincinnati
• Spencer Sanders, Oklahoma State
• Kedon Slovis, USC
• Nick Starkel, San Jose State
• Carson Strong, Nevada
• Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA
• D.J. Uiagalelei, Clemson
• Grant Wells, Marshall
• Malik Willis, Liberty