O’Brien Award has Some Curious Candidates

By Bart Doan  |   Monday, August 10, 2009  |  Comments( 2 )

College Football
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O'Brien Award has some curious candidates

The definition of the Davey O'Brien award is that it presented to the "nation's top college quarterback." When you enter the official website, it will tell you that to view the selection committee, you must log in and register. This is what I now assume to be a front so people never find out who exactly is making these decisions. The O'Brien Watch List came out yesterday, and suffice to say that the selection committee probably doesn't want you to know who they are.

Why all the scourge and fury? Quite simply, it looks like names were randomly drawn from a hat. To be fair, a watch list is nothing more than a grouping of players that for what you assume is an educated reason, are likely to be finalists for the award. That being said, I'd think it wouldn't kill the voters to at least look like they put a great deal of thought into it. Consider these gems...

-Adam Weber, Minnesota: Weber's inclusion is hilarious in that he isn't even a lock to start for Minnesota, who already is considered a back end Big 10 team nonetheless. Though coach Tim Brewster has been reluctant to comment much on the situation, all the reports surrounding the Gophers have Freshman MarQueis Gray as the man over the injured Weber. So how can a backup on a middle of the road team be considered again?

-Aaron Corp, Southern California: To be fair, everyone on SC's roster is a 5 star athlete with NFL dreams from high school. Still, to be on a watch list, shouldn't you have thrown more than four collegiate passes for a rousing 14 yards? Corp may turn out to be everything SC is looking for and more, but for the moment, he's more myth and mystery.

-Jarrett Brown, West Virginia: I left Taylor Potts of Texas Tech off the questionable list because it seems like anyone with an arm can succeed under Mike Leach, but at WVU? Brown, when he has played, has been nothing close to award winning. His spotty stats as a career backup include 5 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. This addition had me wondering if someone related to Brown was making these picks. It's that questionable.

-Ivan Williams, Illinois: The quarterback otherwise known as "Juice" must have got the nod simply for keeping a starting job. His 22 touchdowns to 16 interceptions on top of his extremely modest 57% completion percentage can't possibly have been deal breakers on including him.

-Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame: Anything to keep the Irish relevant, I suppose. Take away Clausen's bowl game against Hawaii, he threw 20 touchdowns to 17 interceptions. Aside from that, his career record is 10-15. If he played for anyone else, would there even be a question to mention him?

These are just a few of the very questionable players to watch. I can't decide what exactly we're supposed to be watching for, good play or poor. To be fair, the list does include nice looking prospective surprise stories like Jordan Jefferson of LSU or Ryan Mallett of Arkansas. That being said, it's time to either shave down the list of players to "watch" or find a new committee. One half expects to scan the list and see Ron Powlus show up.
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About Bart Doan

Bart has been with Realfootball365.com for about six months and thoroughly enjoys writing for the site. He has been featured for his writings on college football in The Sporting News, The Indianapolis Star, Sports Illustrated, and on CBS Sportsline.com. When he's not drowning himself in the...
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