Josh Jackson Earns Manning Award QB of the Week

Jackson leads all FBS freshman QBs with a 177.7 rating and eight TD passes

September 21, 2017

Josh Jackson, a freshman from Virginia Tech, has been selected as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week. He earns the win over seven other Manning Award Stars of the Week in the Allstate Sugar Bowl's Facebook contest.

Jackson completed 24-of-31 passes for 372 yards and five touchdowns, including his longest career completion of 70 yards on a touchdown pass to RB Travon McMillian, and had no turnovers in the Hokies’ 64-17 victory over East Carolina. After trailing 17-7, Jackson, who tallied career-highs in yards (setting a school record for passing yards by a freshman) and touchdowns, led a Hokie eruption of 57 unanswered points.

He was named the Atlantic Coastal Conference Rookie of the Week and CBS Sports Freshman of the Week. His five touchdown passes tied for the most in a single game in program history. His 372 yards in the air were the most by a Tech freshman signal caller as he became the first Virginia Tech quarterback to win his first three career starts since Logan Thomas in 2011.

The No. 13 Hokies will be back in action this Saturday for a 2 p.m. ET kickoff at home against Old Dominion.

Jackson’s top competitors this week were Mississippi State’s Nick Fitzgerald and Luke Falk of Washington State. Fitzgerald completed 15-of-23 passes for 180 yards and had two touchdown passes while also rushing for 88 yards and two touchdowns in the Bulldogs 37-7 win over SEC rival LSU. Falk completed 37-of-49 passes for 396 yards and six touchdowns, matching the school-record for TD passes, in a 52-23 blowout of Pac-12 rival Oregon State.

Facebook Voting

While the Manning Award selected 30 quarterbacks for its preseason Watch List, additional quarterbacks are expected to be added to the Watch List later in the season. The 10 finalists for the honor will be announced on Thursday, November 30 and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Manning Award

In its first 13 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 11 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (Deshaun Watson twice, Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston) lead the way with four Manning Award wins each, while Texas is the only school with two different winners (Colt McCoy and Vince Young).

All the Manning Award winners follow in the footsteps of the Mannings themselves. In college, Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning combined for over 25,000 passing yards and 201 touchdowns while playing in 10 bowl games and earning four bowl MVP awards. Archie was the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft, while both Peyton and Eli were selected No. 1 overall. In addition to the Manning Award's yearly honor, each week during the regular season, eight quarterbacks are recognized as Manning Quarterbacks of the Week. Sixty-one players from 59 different schools were honored during the 2016 season.

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