FORT WORTH, Texas – The preseason honors continued to roll in for South Alabama senior Carter Bradley as he was one of 35 quarterbacks to be named as one of the nation's top returning quarterbacks Tuesday for the 2023 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award Preseason Watch List.

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, February 19, 2024, at The Fort Worth Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

The honor marks the third watch list this summer for Bradley as he was also named to both the Wuerffel Trophy and Maxwell Award Watch Lists last week.

The Jacksonville, Fla., native has also earned numerous preseason all-SBC honors this summer, including Athlon Sports, Phil Steele and PFF, and was one of seven Jags to earn second-team honors from the league coaches last month.

In his first season after transferring from Toledo, Bradley set school records in passing yards (3,326), completions (276) and touchdowns (28) in his first year at South Alabama. He ranked in the top 50 nationally in 11 different categories, including 22nd in passing touchdowns and 25th in passing yards in 2022 and passed for three or more touchdowns in a game seven different times during the season, including four against Texas State. 

Bradley also passed for 250 or more yards seven different times on the season, including 300 or more three times. He threw for 377 yards against Western Kentucky in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, for 354 yards and three touchdowns on the road against Central Michigan before setting a school record with 420 yards and three touchdowns against ULM. 

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.

The official Davey O'Brien Midseason Watch List will be released on Tuesday, October 17, 2023, 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, October 24, 2023. 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, November 7, 2023. The Foundation will announce the three finalists two weeks later (Tuesday, November 21, 2023). The 2023 Davey O'Brien Award winner will be unveiled live on ESPN on Thursday, December 7, 2023, during The Home Depot College Football Awards.

ABOUT THE DAVEY O'BRIEN AWARD
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 Davey O'Brien Award honors candidates who exemplify Davey O'Brien's enduring character while exhibiting teamwork, sportsmanship and leadership in both academics and athletics. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the Davey O'Brien Foundation has awarded more than $1.2 million in scholarships and university grants to help high school and college athletes transform leadership on the field into leadership in life. For more information, visit www.DaveyOBrienAward.com.

Previous Davey O'Brien Award winners include: Jim McMahon (BYU, 1981), Todd Blackledge (Penn State, 1982), Steve Young (BYU, 1983), Doug Flutie (Boston College, 1984), Chuck Long (Iowa, 1985), Vinny Testaverde (Miami, 1986), Don McPherson (Syracuse, 1987), Troy Aikman (UCLA, 1988), Andre Ware (Houston, 1989), Ty Detmer (BYU, 1990-91), Gino Torretta (Miami, 1992), Charlie Ward (Florida State, 1993), Kerry Collins (Penn State, 1994), Danny Wuerffel (Florida, 1995-96), Peyton Manning (Tennessee, 1997), Michael Bishop (Kansas State, 1998), Joe Hamilton (Georgia Tech, 1999), Chris Weinke (Florida State, 2000), Eric Crouch (Nebraska, 2001), Brad Banks (Iowa, 2002), Jason White (Oklahoma, 2003-04), Vince Young (Texas, 2005), Troy Smith (Ohio State, 2006), Tim Tebow (Florida, 2007), Sam Bradford (Oklahoma, 2008), Colt McCoy (Texas, 2009), Cam Newton (Auburn, 2010), Robert Griffin III (Baylor, 2011), Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M, 2012), Jameis Winston (Florida State, 2013), Marcus Mariota (Oregon, 2014), Deshaun Watson (Clemson, 2015-16), Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma, 2017), Kyler Murray (Oklahoma, 2018), Joe Burrow (LSU, 2019), Mac Jones (Alabama, 2020), Bryce Young (Alabama, 2021) and Max Duggan (TCU, 2022).

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