Outgoing University Alabama quarterback Mac Jones on Tuesday was announced as the winner of the Manning Award, presented annually by the Allstate Sugar Bowl to the top quarterback in the nation.
Jones’ historic performance throughout the 2020 college football season and playoffs led him to become the first Crimson Tide signal-caller to earn the award; he quarterbacked Bama to a perfect 13-0 record and its 18th national championship in program history.
The Manning Award, now in its 16th year, was created by the Sugar Bowl to honor the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that takes into consideration the candidates’ bowl performances in its balloting. The award is voted on by a panel of local and national media, as well as each of the Mannings.
Jones led the nation in passing yards (4,500), completion percentage (77.4), passer rating (203.06) and yards per attempt (11.2) and was also second in passing touchdowns (41) and third in passing yards per game (346.2) this season.
His incredible performance included setting the all-time record in college football for completion percentage. He was named a consensus All-American and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
It was previously announced that Jones won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and Davey O’Brien Award.
Other finalists for this year’s Manning Award were: Ian Book (Notre Dame), Matt Corral (Ole Miss), Justin Fields (Ohio State), Dillon Gabriel (UCF), Sam Howell (North Carolina), Trevor Lawrence (Clemson), Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina), Brock Purdy (Iowa State), Desmond Ridder (Cincinnati), Kyle Trask (Florida) and Zach Wilson (BYU).
The award came the same day that it was announced Jones has accepted an invitation to participate in the Senior Bowl in Mobile later this month. He has declared for the 2021 NFL Draft.
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Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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