Ohio's Rourke & Miami's Ragland Named To 2018 Manning Award Watch List
Ohio's Nathan Rourke & Miami's Gus Ragland Named To 2018 Manning Award Watch List
NEW ORLEANS – The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, announced its preseason Watch List on Thursday, August 16. The list includes 30 of the top quarterbacks in the nation heading into the 2018 season. The winner will again be selected by a voting panel, which includes national media and each of the Mannings, after the bowls. Representing the MAC are Ohio junior quarterback Nathan Rourke and Miami junior quarterback Gus Ragland.
Rourke, a native of Oakville, Ontario, Canada, had a breakout sopohomore season as he led the Bobcats to a 9-4 overall record, including a 41-6 win over UAB in the Bahamas Bowl. In 13 games, Rourke set a school record with 21 rushing touchdowns with 137 carries for 912 yards rushing. Rourke threw for 2,203 yards and 17 touchdowns passing on 161-of-292 pass attempts. He was named All-MAC Second Team last year and also set school records with 132 points scored, 22 touchdowns scored and was responsible for 39 touchdowns.
Ragland, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, started nine games during the 2017 season as the RedHawks posted a 5-7 overall record, 4-4 in the MAC. Last season Ragland threw for 2,032 yards on 150-269 passing (55.8%) with 19 touchdowns for an average of 225.8 yards per game. Ragland posted 73 carries for 135 yards (1.8 avg.) and three rushing touchdowns.
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.
“We’re very excited to jump into another college football season and to have the opportunity to watch all of the tremendous quarterbacks around the country,” said Archie Manning. “While these 30 quarterbacks have been selected to our Watch List, every quarterback in the nation remains eligible to earn the honor. We will make some midseason additions which will allow us to recognize some new faces as well as some of the standout quarterbacks that are still in the midst of preseason competition.”
Inclusion on the Watch List is not necessary for the quarterbacks to be selected for the honor. Midseason additions to the Watch List will be announced on Thursday, October 11. The list of 10 finalists will be released on Thursday, November 29. The winner will be announced in the week following the College Football Playoff National Championship. In its first 14 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. One of the more unique aspects of the Manning Award is the fact that it takes account of the quarterbacks’ bowl performances, in addition to the regular season.
All the Manning Award winners follow in the footsteps of the Mannings themselves. In college, Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning combined for over 25,000 passing yards and 201 touchdowns while playing in 10 bowl games and earning four bowl MVP awards. Archie was the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft, while both Peyton and Eli were selected No. 1 overall. In addition to the Manning Award's yearly honor, each week during the regular season, eight quarterbacks are recognized as Manning Quarterbacks of the Week. Sixty-three players from 60 different schools were honored during the 2017 season.
