12 Big 12 Quarterbacks Listed

Eleven Big 12 quarterbacks were named to the 2024 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award watch list, which was released on Wednesday.

Last year the award was presented to LSU star Jayden Daniels. The award is given to the top senior or upperclassman quarterback set to graduate with their class.

The Big 12 quarterbacks on the list of 63 included Oklahoma State’s Alan Bowman, Iowa State’s Rocco Becht, Kansas’ Jalon Daniels, Arizona’s Noah Fifita, Baylor’s Dequan Finn, West Virginia’s Garrett Greene, UCF’s KJ Jefferson, Texas Tech’s Behren Morton, Utah’s Cameron Rising, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Houston’s Donovan Smith and Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby.

In the preseason, Sanders was named the All-Big 12 quarterback. He threw for 3,230 yards with 27 touchdowns and threw just three interceptions. The Buffs, along with Arizona, Arizona State and Utah, join the Big 12 this season.

Jefferson — who transferred to UCF from Arkansas in the offseason — was selected as the conference’s newcomer of the year. He’s thrown for nearly 8,000 yards in three collegiate seasons.

Bowman helped the Cowboys reach the Big 12 Championship Game last season, where they lost to Texas. He is back for a seventh season of college football. Daniels missed most of last season due to injuries, but the Jayhawks are ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 for the first time in more than a decade.

Greene was WVU’s starter a year ago and helped the Mountaineers win nine games, while Morton is hoping for a healthier season as the Red Raiders hope for, at minimum, a third straight bowl berth under coach Joey McGuire. Smith was the starter at Houston last year and remained with the program as they moved to new coach Willie Fritz.

Fifita, Finn, Rising and Sorsby, along with Jefferson and Sanders, are newcomers to the conference.

2024 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Watch List

Joey Aguilar, App State

Drew Allar, Penn State

Luke Altmyer, Illinois

Rocco Becht, Iowa State

Carson Beck, Georgia

Alan Bowman, Oklahoma State

Max Brosmer, Minnesota

Byrum Brown, South Florida

Hudson Card, Purdue

Thomas Castellanos, Boston College

Brady Cook, Missouri

Jalon Daniels, Kansas

Ashton Daniels, Stanford

Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

Kyron Drones, Virginia Tech

Billy Edwards Jr., Maryland

Quinn Ewers, Texas

Noah Fifita, Arizona

TJ Finley, Western Kentucky

Dequan Finn, Baylor

Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, Colorado State

Brett Gabbert, Miami (OH)

Dillon Gabriel, Oregon

Ethan Garbers, UCLA

Garrett Greene, West Virginia

Seth Henigan, Memphis

Will Howard, Ohio State

KJ Jefferson, UCF

Athan Kaliakmanis, Rutgers

Mikey Keene, Fresno State

Haynes King, Georgia Tech

Cade Klubnik, Clemson

Riley Leonard, Notre Dame

Grayson McCall, NC State

Kyle McCord, Syracuse

Cade McNamara, Iowa

Fernando Mendoza, Cal

Graham Mertz, Florida

Jalen Milroe, Alabama

Behren Morton, Texas Tech

Garrett Nussmeier, LSU

Andrew Peasley, Wyoming

Cameron Rising, Utah

Will Rogers, Washington

Kurtis Rourke, Indiana

Kaidon Salter, Liberty

Shedeur Sanders, Colorado

Brayden Schager, Hawai’i

Blake Shapen, Mississippi State

Tyler Shough, Louisville

Donovan Smith, Houston

Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati

Preston Stone, SMU

Payton Thorne, Auburn

DJ Uiagalelei, Florida State

Tyler Van Dyke, Wisconsin

Brock Vandagriff, Kentucky

Nicholas Vattiato, Middle Tennessee

Cam Ward, Miami

Conner Weigman, Texas A&M

Hayden Wolff, Western Michigan

Nate Yarnell, Pittsburgh

Jacob Zeno, UAB