Allen candidate for pair of national QB awards

FORT WORTH, Texas — Austin Allen added to his list of preseason honors on Wednesday.

The Arkansas senior quarterback was among 30 of the nation’s top college quarterbacks, including six from the Southeastern Conference, named to the preseason watch list for the Davey O’Brien Award. The award is presented annually to the nation’s best quarterback by the Davey O’Brien Foundation.

Allen was also one of 47 standout quarterbacks from different divisions and conferences across the nation tabbed to the watch list for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, which is presented at the end of each football season with the winner selected based on his accomplishments both on and off the field. Candidates must be a college senior or fourth-year junior on schedule to graduate with their class.

Ready for his second season at the helm of the Razorbacks’ offense, Allen enters 2017 after an impressive junior campaign that saw him top the SEC in both total passing yardage (3,430) and passing yardage in conference play (2,291). He also threw 25 touchdown passes, which ranked second in the conference, completed 61.1 percent of his passes (245 of 401) and boasted a 146.04 passer rating.

His 3,430 passing yards and 25 touchdown passes each ranked fifth in single-season school history. Of his 25 touchdown passes, 19 came inside the red zone, which led the SEC and tied for 10th in the FBS. The Fayetteville product threw multiple touchdown passes in nine games and became the first quarterback in school history and one of just four in the SEC since 2000 to throw multiple touchdown passes in each of the first seven games of a season.

Allen was previously honored by the Davey O’Brien Foundation last September as one of the “Great 8” quarterbacks in Week 2 for his performance in the Razorbacks’ 41-38 double-overtime win at No. 15 TCU. He led the Razorbacks to the tying score in the final two minutes of regulation, going 4-for-4 with a touchdown pass and then catching the tying 2-point conversion with 1:03 remaining. He later ran 5 yards for the winning score in the second overtime to lift Arkansas to victory, snapping TCU’s 14-game home winning streak. He finished 17-of-29 passing for 223 yards and three touchdowns.

Allen was also named to the preseason watch list for the Maxwell Award on July 10, and earned third-team All-SEC honors last Friday from the league’s media.