FORT WORTH, Texas – Ohio quarterback Kurtis Rourke and Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn landed on the 35-player watch list for the Davey O’Brien Award, as announced by the Davey O’Brien Foundation this afternoon.
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 2023 college football season. All nominees are required to have previously started at least one game at an NCAA Division I institution.
Rourke went 244-for-353 on 3,256 passing yards, throwing 25 total touchdowns in 11 games. The quarterback made program history against Fordham (Sept. 24), going for 527 yards in the air, breaking a record that was set in 1983. He is also second in program history in passing yards in a season as well as passing touchdowns in a season. Rourke's performance earned him numerous accolades, highlighted by being named the MAC Offensive Player of the Year, earning the Vern Smith Leadership Award as well as earning First Team All-MAC honors. Off the field, he was named Academic All-MAC, 2022 Academic All-America® Second Team and earned MAC Scholar Athlete of the Week honors once.
Finn was a second-team All-MAC selection in 2022. He ranked fourth in the MAC in passing efficiency (136.4) and fourth in total offense (240.9). Finn completed 59.7 percent of his passes for 2,269 yards and 23 TDs. He claimed Boca Raton Bowl Offensive MVP honors after throwing for 133 yards and a TD while adding 23 rushing yards and a TD. He also earned MAC Championship Game Offensive MVP accolades after throwing for 154 yards and a TD, while rushing for 86 yards. Finn was named MAC West Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for a school record-tying six touchdowns and rushing for one score vs. Kent State. The seven touchdowns accounted for against the Golden Flashes set new program record. He was second on the Rockets in rushing with 631 yards and team-best nine rushing TDs. The 631 rushing yards sits as a school record for a QB, besting the previous school season record of 564 set by Jim Kelso in 1981.
The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award is presented annually to the nation’s best college quarterback and is the oldest and most prestigious national quarterback award. The 47th Annual Davey O’Brien Awards Dinner honoring the winner will be held Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, at The Fort Worth Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
The official Davey O’Brien Midseason Watch List will be released on Tuesday, Oct. 17, and will contain all active quarterbacks from the Preseason Watch List, all players honored as a weekly Great 8 recipient through the season’s first seven weeks and any additional quarterbacks approved by the selection subcommittee.
The Midseason Watch List will then be pared down to the 35-player Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2023 on Tuesday, Oct. 24. Fan voting on social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) will again play a role in the semifinalist, finalist and winner voting totals when combined with the national selection committee’s ballots. Voting will begin on Oct. 24.
The list of semifinalists selected from the QB Class will be named on Tuesday, Nov. 7. The Foundation will announce the three finalists two weeks later (Tuesday, Nov. 21). The 2023 Davey O’Brien Award winner will be unveiled live on ESPN on Thursday, Dec. 7, during The Home Depot College Football Awards.
