The watch list for the Davey O’Brien Award was announced this morning with no UCLA Football quarterbacks on the list, but that will change in one year’s time.
The Davey O’Brien Award is given every year to the nation’s top quarterback and this morning, the Davey O’Brien Foundation named 26 players to their preseason award watch list. There was not a single UCLA football signal caller on the list.
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That is not necessarily surprising considering their stud QB for the last three years, Josh Rosen, has left the team for the NFL and will be playing professionally with the Arizona Cardinals.
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Looking to take over for him is a grab bag of five QBs that have varying talents that can help the Bruins and become new head coach Chip Kelly’s first offensive leader in his first season in charge of the program. Transfer Wilton Speight, freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson and returning Bruins Devon Modster, Matt Lynch and Austin Burton are the five vying for the starting spot.
All of them except for Speight have more than one year of eligibility remaining in their college careers, so in one year’s time with a season of Kelly under their belt, we could see one of these four QBs on the Davey O’Brein Award watch list.
Though Kelly is far from choosing a signal caller for the 2018 season, there is a good chance that Thompson-Robinson could be that guy. Though there is also a chance for Modster, Lynch and Burton to stand out this season, it seems like DTR is the perfect fit for Kelly’s offense and should get quality playing time this season.
With the potential he has, DTR could grab a lot of attention this season and heading into 2019, should be a key figure among many college football analysts. With that in mind, and you can hold me to this, DTR should be a lock for next year’s O’Brien watch list.
That is the beauty of Kelly’s mind. He just knows how to evolve. Kelly has a way of bringing out the best in his players.
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And that brings up another point. Aside from the O’Brien, there should be several Bruins named to 2019 preseason award watch lists. That means 2018 should be very exciting. Go Bruins!