Book Named to O’Brien Award Watch List

NOTRE DAME, Indiana — University of Notre Dame graduate student quarterback Ian Book has been selected to the 2020 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List. 

The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award is presented annually to the nation’s best college quarterback and is the oldest and most prestigious national quarterback award.

A 2019 team captain and Notre Dame Offensive Player of the Year, Book was named to the Davey O’Brien Award Great 8 List three times and the Manning Star of the Week twice last season. He finished the season 240-for-399 with 3,034 yards and 34 touchdowns, throwing just six interceptions. He also ran 112 times for 546 yards and four touchdowns. 

With his 2019 performance, Book became the first quarterback in Notre Dame history with at least 2,500 passing yards, 500 rushing yards and 30 TD passes in a season. Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts was the only other FBS quarterback to reach those milestones in 2019. He had five games on the year with four or more passing TDs, the most in a Notre Dame football season, and was the first Irish quarterback ever to have multiple games with five touchdown passes in the same season (vs. New Mexico, Bowling Green and Navy in 2019) — not to mention becoming the first quarterback in Irish history to throw five touchdown passes in a singular half vs. Bowling Green. 

Sixteen semifinalists selected from the final watch list will be named on Tuesday, Nov. 10. The Foundation will announce the three finalists two weeks later (Tuesday, Nov. 24). The 2020 Davey O’Brien Award winner will be unveiled live on ESPN Thursday, Dec. 10, during The Home Depot College Football Awards.

The 44th Annual Davey O’Brien Awards Dinner is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas.