NEW ORLEANS (September 2, 2025) – The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, has named eight quarterbacks as its "Stars of the Week." College football fans can follow the Manning Award on social media (@ManningAward) to vote for what they think was the best performance from this past weekend. When voting closes on Thursday at 9 a.m. (Central), the top vote-getter will be announced as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week.
 
The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in 2004 to honor 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. Since the Manning Award started recognizing Stars of the Week in 2011, 570 different quarterbacks from 135 schools have been recognized. Seventy-four players were honored during the 2024 season.
 
This week's eight Manning Award Stars of the Week are:
 
Joey Aguilar, Tennessee (16-of-28, 281 total yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 62.3)
Aguilar, making his debut as the Volunteer quarterback, led his team to 17 first-quarter points and then added a 73-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter as Tennessee pulled away for a 45-26 win over Syracuse.
 
Tommy Castellanos, Florida State (9-of-14, 230 total yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, QBR: 83.6)
Castellanos recorded 152 passing yards and 78 rushing yards as he led the unranked Seminoles to 24 unanswered points to offset an early deficit in a 31-17 upset of No. 8 Alabama, snapping the Tide's streak of 23 consecutive wins in season openers.
 
Devon Dampier, Utah (21-of-25, 293 total yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 88.8)
Dampier made his Utah debut and passed for 206 yards while running for 87 yards to lead the Utes to a 43-10 road victory over UCLA.
 
Haynes King, Georgia Tech (13-of-20, 299 total yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 89.1)
King, who ran for 156 yards and three scores, capped his strong day by running for a 45-yard touchdown with 1:07 remaining to lift the Yellow Jackets to a 27-20 road win over Colorado.
 
Marcel Reed, Texas A&M (22-of-34, 328 total yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 82.6)
Reed, who threw for a career-best four touchdowns, delivered back-to-back third-quarter scoring strikes after UTSA cut the Aggie advantage to 21-17 to lead Texas A&M to a 42-24 victory over the Roadrunners.
 
Jake Retzlaff, Tulane (18-of-31, 265 total yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 77.7)
Retzlaff, who piled up 216 of his total yards by halftime, passed for a score on his first series and also ran for a 69-yard score to lead the Green Wave to a 23-3 win over Northwestern – its first win over a Big Ten opponent since 1970.
 
Evan Simon, Temple (19-of-25, 269 total yards, 6 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 95.8)
Simon, who connected on four first-half touchdowns to set his career-best mark, added two more passing TDs in the second half to match the school record of six passing touchdowns as the Owls rolled to a 42-10 road victory over Massachusetts.
 
AJ Swann, App State (31-of-46, 394 total yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 76.3)
Swann, who set the App State record for passing yards in a debut with 368, directed the Mountaineers to 27 unanswered points and 586 total yards in a 34-11 win over Charlotte.
 
While the Manning Award selected 27 quarterbacks for its preseason Watch List, additional quarterbacks are expected to be added to the Watch List later in the season. Finalists will be selected in early December and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

In its first 21 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 15 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Jayden Daniels, Stetson Bennett, Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with nine Manning Award honorees, while the Big 12 Conference (Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Vince Young, Colt McCoy and Robert Griffin III) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (Cam Ward, Deshaun Watson twice, Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston) have each had five winners.

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.