Penn State's Sean Clifford named to Davey O'Brien Award watch list

Sean Clifford, Penn State’s junior quarterback, is one of 30 quarterbacks in Division I football named to The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award watch list released Tuesday.

The award is presented annually by the Davey O’Brien Foundation to the nation’s best college quarterback. It is the oldest national quarterback award, having first been presented in 1981.

Former Penn State quarterbacks Todd Blackledge (1982) and Kerry Collins (1994) are past winners of the award. John Shaffer was named a finalist in 1986 before helping lead the Nittany Lions to the national championship with a win over Miami (Fla.) in the Fiesta Bowl.

Check out our live announcement of the 2020 Davey O'Brien Award watch list here. 30 great names on this list and plenty more college quarterbacks set to make their marks when the season kicks off! https://t.co/Htm8NWBHju

— Davey O'Brien (@daveyobrien) July 14, 2020

Clifford has appeared in 16 games for Penn State and owns 12 starts. In 2019, he was selected honorable mention All-Big Ten by the coaches and media.

He completed 39 passes of 20 or more yards and ranked third in the Big Ten in passing touchdowns (23), yards per completion (14.0) and yards per pass attempt (8.3).

Clifford finished the season with 2,654 total passing yards, and his 25 career touchdowns tie him for 13th all-time at Penn State.

He threw for 398 yards at Maryland last September, and that total ranks third all-time in program history. His 287 yards in the first half is a PSU record.

Sixteen semifinalists will be selected Nov. 10, and the three finalists will be named Nov. 24. The Davey O’Brien Award winner will be announced Dec. 10 during The Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN.