Anthony Gordon named semifinalist for Davey O’Brien Award, keeping Washington State streak alive

PULLMAN – For the fifth consecutive year, Washington State’s starting quarterback has been named a semifinalist for the Davey O’Brien Award.

Anthony Gordon, who’s still the nation’s leading passer at 3,794 yards, made the semifinalist cut for the award given annually to the top quarterback in college football. He joins 15 players from around the country and two others in the Pac-12 Conference.

All three of WSU’s starting quarterbacks dating back to 2015 have been a semifinalist for the award. Gordon joins Gardner Minshew, who was a semifinalist and finalist in 2018, and Luke Falk, who was a semifinalist each of the three years prior.

Gordon has a 596-yard lead on LSU’s Joe Burrow for the national lead in passing yards and also ranks No. 1 nationally with 34 touchdown passes. With three regular-season games remaining and potentially a bowl game, Gordon is on track to become the first player in Pac-12/10 history to throw for 5,000 yards. He could break Jake Browning’s conference record of 43 TD passes.

The redshirt senior from Pacifica, California, is also the only player in the country with more than 300 pass completions (323), and he ranks sixth in completion percentage (71).

Utah’s Tyler Huntley and Oregon’s Justin Herbert are the other Pac-12 QBs who were named semifinalists. They join a list that includes Burrow, Baylor’s Charlie Brewer, SMU’s Shane Buechele, Texas’ Sam Ehlinger, Ohio State’s Justin Fields, Georgia’s Jake Fromm, Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan, Navy’s Malcolm Perry, Iowa State’s Brock Purdy, Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Memphis’ Brady White.

Three finalists will be named on Nov. 25, and the winner will be named during the Home Depot College Football Awards Show on Dec. 12. Past winners have included Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Deshaun Watson, Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston.