NEW ORLEANS (August 24, 2026) – The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, announced its preseason Watch List on Monday, featuring 40 of the nation's top quarterbacks entering the 2026 college football season. The winner will be selected following the postseason by a voting panel that includes national media members, as well as each of the Mannings.

Created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the Manning Award honors the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning Family. It is the only major quarterback award that includes candidates' performances during the post season in determining their winner.

"We're excited to kick off another college football season and recognize this outstanding group of quarterbacks on the Manning Award Watch List," Archie Manning said. "Every year, players emerge throughout the season, and that's one of the things that make this award special. We look forward to watching these quarterbacks compete, especially when the stakes are highest in conference championships, bowl games and the College Football Playoff, because the Manning Award honors the best quarterback over the entire season."

Inclusion on the preseason Watch List is not required to win the Manning Award. Additional quarterbacks will be added, and a midseason watch list will be released in October.
Finalists will be announced prior to the postseason, and the winner will be named following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

"This watch list showcases many of the outstanding quarterbacks who will define the 2026 college football season, and we're proud that the Allstate Sugar Bowl continues to partner with the Manning family in recognizing excellence at the game's most important position, said Jeff Hundley, Chief Executive Officer of the Allstate Sugar Bowl.  "We look forward to watching these young men compete throughout the season and to seeing who rises to the occasion when the stakes are highest."

This year's Watch List features quarterbacks representing nine Football Bowl Subdivision conferences and one independent program. The Big Ten leads all conferences with 12 selections, followed by the SEC and Big 12 with eight each and the ACC with six.

Fernando Mendoza became the first Indiana quarterback to earn the honor last season, which started in 2004.

The official Manning Award Midseason Watch List will be released on Thursday, Nov. 5, and will contain active starting quarterbacks from the Preseason Watch List and players honored as weekly award winners through the season's first nine weeks of the season.

The winner will be announced after the College Football Playoff National Championship on January 27.

In its first 22 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 16 different schools and from five 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.

Statistically, the Manning Award has seen a wide-range of quarterbacks. Nineteen of the Manning Award men threw for over 3,000 yards in their winning campaign, including 4,000-yard seasons from Bennett, Burrow, Griffin III, Jones, Marcus Mariota, Mayfield, Murray, Ryan, Ward, Watson (twice), Winston and Bryce Young. On the other hand, Daniels, Manziel, Murray, Newton, Watson (in 2015) and Vince Young were all 1,000-yard rushers during their Manning years.

Perhaps most impressive among the statistics of the quarterbacks recognized by the Manning Award is touchdowns scored. Sixteen of the winners accounted for over 40 touchdowns during their winning seasons.

Previous Manning Award winners have also factored prominently in the NFL Draft as they all heard their names called on Draft Day. Eight honorees were selected No. 1 overall (Mendoza, Burrow, Mayfield, Murray, Newton, Russell, Winston, and Bryce Young), while five others went No. 2 or No. 3 (Daniels, Griffin III, Mariota, Ryan and Vince Young).

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.
 

Player	Cl.	School	Comp-Att	Pct.	Yds	TD	Int	Rushing
Micah Alejado	So.	Hawaii	285-430	66.3	3,106	24	9	105 yds, 1 TD
Bear Bachmeier	So.	BYU	251-387	64.9	3,033	15	7	527 yds, 11 TD
CJ Bailey	Jr.	NC State	273-397	68.8	3,105	25	9	215 yds., 6 TD
Alonza Barnett	Sr.	UCF	216-370	58.4	2,806	23	8	589 yds., 15 TD
Rocco Becht	Sr.	Penn State	205-339	60.5	2,584	16	9	116 yds., 8 TD
Byrum Brown	Sr.	Auburn	226-341	66.3	3,158	28	7	1,008 yds., 14 TD
CJ Carr	Jr.	Notre Dame	195-293	66.6	2,741	24	6	33 yds., 3 TD
Trinidad Chambliss	Sr.	Ole Miss	294-445	66.1	3,937	22	3	527 yds., 8 TD
Anthony Colandrea	Sr.	Nebraska	275-417	65.9	3,459	23	9	649 yds., 10
Devon Dampier	Sr.	Utah	212-334	63.5	2,490	24	5	835 yds., 10 TD
Walker Eget	Sr.	Duke	232-393	59	3,047	17	9	96 yds.
JC French	Sr.	Cincinnati	248-389	63.8	2,929	20	8	315 yds., 6 TD
Noah Fifita	Sr.	Arizona	275-428	64.3	3,228	29	6	216 yds., 3 TD
Mason Heintschel	So.	Pittsburgh	201-316	63.6	2,354	16	8	88 yds., 2 TD
Josh Hoover	Sr.	Indiana	272-413	65.9	3,472	29	13	4 yds., 2 TD
Katin Houser	Sr.	Illinois	269-408	65.9	3,300	19	6	193 yds., 9 TD
Brad Jackson	So.	Texas State	251-352	71.3	3,224	21	7	744 yds., 17 TD
Kevin Jennings	Sr.	SMU	300-454	66.1	3,641	26	13	55 yds., 4 TD
Colton Joseph	Jr.	Wisconsin	173-290	59.7	2,624	21	10	1,007 yds., 13 TD
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele	So.	California	316-492	64.2	3,454	18	9	-120 yds., 4 TD
Sam Leavitt	Jr.	LSU	145-239	60.7	1,628	10	3	306 yds., 5 TD
Drake Lindsey	Jr.	Minnesota	246-389	63.2	2,382	18	6	-119 yds., 4 TD
Jayden Maiava	Sr.	USC	265-403	65.8	3,711	24	10	157 yds., 6TD
Arch Manning	Sr.	Texas	248-404	61.4	3,163	26	7	399 yds., 10 TD
John Mateer	Sr.	Oklahoma	247-397	62.2	2,885	14	11	431 yds., 8 TD
Owen McCown	Sr.	UTSA	277-410	67.6	2,995	30	7	24 yds., 1 TD
Darian Mensah	Jr.	Miami	334-500	66.8	3,973	34	6	-32 yds., 1 TD
Drew Mestemaker	So.	Okla. St.	319-463	68.9	4,379	34	9	89 yds., 5 TD
Nick Minicucci	Sr.	Delaware	322-512	62.9	3,683	23	7	235 yds., 10 TD
Dante Moore	Sr.	Oregon	296-412	71.8	3,565	30	10	156 yds., 2 TD
Jaylen Raynor	Sr.	Iowa St	333-501	66.5	3,361	19	11	423 yds., 7 TD
Marcel Reed	Jr.	Texas A&M	234-377	62.1	3,169	25	12	493 yds., 6 TD
Julian Sayin	So.	Ohio State	301-391	77	3,610	32	8	-44 yds., 0 TD
LaNorris Sellers	Jr.	South Carolina	178-293	60.8	2,437	13	8	270 yds., 5 TD
Gunner Stockton	Sr.	Georgia	269-386	69.7	2,894	24	5	462 yds., 10 TD
Bryce Underwood	So.	Michigan	202-335	60.3	2,428	11	9	392 yds., 6 TD
Caden Veltkamp	Sr.	Florida Atlantic	345-515	67	3,641	24	17	45 yds., 4 TD
Malik Washington	So.	Maryland	273-473	57.7	2,963	17	9	303 yds., 4 TD
Connor Weigman	Sr.	Houston	232-356	65.2	2,705	25	9	700 yds., 11 TD
Demond Williams	Jr.	Washington	246-354	69.5	3,065	25	8	611 yds., 6 TD

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 29 national champions, 114 Hall of Fame players, 55 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 92-year history. The 93rd Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will serve as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, will be played on January 15, 2027.

In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through hosting and sponsoring sporting events, awards, scholarships, and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.6 billion into the local economy in the last decade. For more information, visit www.AllstateSugarBowl.org.