Drew Allar among four Big Ten quarterbacks named on Davey O'Brien Award preseason watch list

Penn State football starting quarterback Drew Allar was named to the Davey O'Brien Award preseason watch list. This year's list was comprised of the thirty-six best college quarterbacks in the nation. Included in the rankings, aside from Allar, in the newly realigned Big Ten conference are Washington’s Will Rogers, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, and Ohio State’s Will Howard.

It is rather surprising to see only a mere four quarterbacks named on the preseason watch list in one of the best conferences in the sport. For reference, the SEC had six, and the ACC and Big 12 each had eight respectively. In a conference of eighteen teams, only getting four on this list is not great. 

Let’s dive into all four Big Ten quarterbacks named on the Davey O'Brien Award preseason watch list and analyze their upcoming season outlook.

Rogers is a fifth-year quarterback who transferred to Washington after four years at Mississippi State. Rogers has thrown for 12,315 yards and 94 touchdowns in his collegiate career. Last season, he was forced to miss four games due to a shoulder injury. Rogers excelled in the late Mike Leach’s offense in 2021 and 2022, eclipsing 35 passing touchdowns and nearly 4,000 passing yards in each.

Rogers chose to head to Seattle and play for the retooled University of Washington. Their head coach, Kalen DeBoer, opted to take the Alabama job after the departure of Nick Saban. Additionally, Washington lost stars Michael Penix, Rome Odunze, and Ja’Lynn Polk among others to the NFL. Rogers will have big shoes to fill with new head coach Jedd Fisch, but he justly earned a spot on the Davey O’Brien Award preseason watch list.

Gabriel enters this season as one of the most tenured college athletes. In his sixth season, he chose to play for highly-respected head coach Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks. The southpaw began his collegiate career down in Orlando with UCF for three seasons, then with Oklahoma in 2022 and 2023. Gabriel will become a sixth-year starter, and has thrown for 14,865 yards and 125 touchdowns.

Gabriel slides into an offense that had explosive seasons with Bo Nix at the helm, who was a finalist for the Heisman trophy last season. Oregon has high expectations this year, as they were ranked third in the preseason AP poll earlier this week. Gabriel will have two potential NFL prospects, Evan Stewart and Tez Johnson, at wide receiver to sling the ball to. Expect big numbers yet again for Gabriel and a solid chance to win the Davey O’Brien Award.

Howard comes into the 2024 season in his fifth year of eligibility. A transfer from Kansas State, Howard has big expectations heading to Columbus, Ohio. He does not have as much experience and game action as Rogers and Gabriel but has thrown for nearly 6,000 yards and 48 touchdowns in his career. 

Supporting Howard will be standout wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, who surprised many by returning to Ohio State for his senior year. Ohio State also has TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, one of the best running back duos in the country. Howard will have plenty of star power behind him, however the PA native will just have an outside shot at claiming the award.

Allar steps into Happy Valley for his junior season, but his second as the starter. Allar passed for 2,631 yards and 25 touchdowns in his 2023 campaign. He impressed many, and most noticeably only threw two interceptions all season. However, this was likely a byproduct of the tenative play-calling by former offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. The Nittany Lions did not design Allar to throw the ball much downfield, and they had limited receivers to support him.

Allar has massive expectations for next season, as the Nittany Lions are favored to go over their preseason win total of 9.5 wins. Matt Miller, an ESPN NFL Draft analyst, said that he heard a lot of positive buzz about Allar within NFL scouts.

Penn State, similar to Ohio State, has one of the best running back duos in the country, the “Lawn Boyz”, juniors Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. If Penn State makes a run into the college football playoff, Allar will be in the discussion for the Davey O’Brien Award.