Hill named to Manning Award Watch List

PROVO, Utah - The Allstate Sugar Bowl announced today that junior quarterback Taysom Hill was named to the Manning Award Watch List, an award given to the top quarterback in the country.

The list includes 32 of the top quarterbacks in the nation heading into the 2014 season. The winner will again be selected by a voting panel, which includes national media and each of the Mannings, after the bowls.

The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that includes the candidates’ bowl performances in its balloting.

“This is always a great time of year with college football ramping up once again,” Archie Manning said. “We have a very strong group of 32 quarterbacks on our watch list this year, and we’ve seen them all in action, but every year there are new guys who jump right in and become stars. That’s what makes college football such a wonderful sport – you never know what might happen once the teams get out on the field.”

Hill, a junior from Poctaello, Idaho, was named the 2013 College Sports Madness Independent Offensive Player of the Year after recording 2,938 passing yards and 1,344 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns. He finished second only to the 1990 Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer in total offensive yards by a BYU sophomore quarterback.

To date, Hill has been named to watch lists for the Heisman Trophy (two lists), the Walter Camp Award, the Maxwell Award, College Football Performance Awards Quarterback Trophy, Davey O’Brien Award and Allstate AFCA Good Works. He was also named Phil Steele Preseason All-Independent First Team, Sporting News Top 25 and a Touchdown Club of Columbus Player to Watch.