There were 25 semifinalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award announced at the beginning of October. Since then, the selection committee has narrowed it down to 10, four of whom hail from the Big Ten. Six quarterbacks were on that initial 25-man semifinalist list. Luke Altmyer and Billy Edwards, Jr. were left off the trim to 10.
The Golden Arm Award recognizes the top senior or upperclassmen quarterback set to graduate each year. Since 1987, based on the current alignment of the Big Ten, the conference has had eight winners with the most recent coming in 2015.
The Big Ten has four finalists, followed by the SEC, which has three, the ACC, which has two, and the Big 12, which has one.
Big Ten Lands Four in Top 10 for Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award
Drew Allar, Penn State
Despite the narrow loss last weekend, the Nittany Lions remain in good hands with Drew Allar at the helm. The third-year quarterback from Medina, Ohio is in his second season as the starter for Penn State and has taken a step in his development.
Through eight games, Allar has passed for 1,786 yards and 12 touchdowns while completing 70.1 percent of his passes. He’s on pace to beat the career marks he set last year and has vastly improved his completion percentage from 59.9 percent.
In his career, Allar has three 300-yard games, and two have come this season in the wins over Kent State and USC. Now with a loss, the Nittany Lions are going to lean on him to deliver over the final four weeks of the season to preserve their Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff hopes.
If awarded, Allar would become the first Nittany Lion to win the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
Dillon Gabriel, Oregon
Dillon Gabriel is no stranger to accolades. In his career, Gabriel has numerous all-conference honors and led his conferences in passing three times, including this year.
The 9-0 Ducks have been the top team in the country and Gabriel has been one of, if not the top quarterback in college football, and, once again, the stats back him up. He leads the conference with 2,665 yards and 19 touchdowns (tie). Gabriel tops the leaderboard for all FBS quarterbacks by completing 74.8 percent of his passes.
Gabriel is an all-time quarterback and has had one of the most prolific careers in college football history. Now, he’s climbed to second all-time in passing yards, passing touchdowns, total yards, and total touchdowns. Respectively, he is 1,687 passing yards, 11 passing touchdowns, 1,404 total yards, and one total touchdown away from tying Case Keenum in all four categories.
The quarterback for the current top-ranked team in college football is looking to become just the second Oregon quarterback to win the award (Marcus Mariota, 2014).
Will Howard, Ohio State
The Buckeyes went with a quality-over-quantity approach to the transfer portal. Will Howard was one of the biggest names to come to Columbus. After four years with the Kansas State Wildcats, Howard is closing out his career with Ohio State.
Through eight games, Howard has thrown for 1,977 yards and 19 touchdowns while on pace to shatter his career mark by completing 73.2 percent of his passes. With each game, Howard has improved and rebounded from what he called his worst game as a quarterback against Penn State.
No Buckeye quarterback has won the Golden Arm Award so Howard is working to become the first.
Kurtis Rourke, Indiana
Finally, Indiana’s star quarterback, Kurtis Rourke is putting together one of the most special seasons in Hoosier history. Rourke has led Indiana to an 8-0 record (the team is 9-0 as they won one game without him) and has his team positioned well to make a run at the College Football Playoff.
In three fewer games, he already put up similar numbers as he did last year with Ohio. This year, he has completed 73.3 percent of his passes for 2,204 yards and 19 touchdowns. The former MAC MVP is on pace to surpass his incredible 2022 season when he threw for 3,257 yards and 25 touchdowns.
The Maple Missile has been revolutionary for the Hoosiers this year. He could be the first Indiana quarterback to win the award.
The Rest of the Finalists
- Carson Beck, Georgia
- Jaxson Dart, Mississippi
- Quinn Ewers, Texas
- Cade Klubnik, Clemson
- Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
- Cam Ward, Miami (FL)
