NEW ORLEANS – Virginia Tech QB Ryan Willis added another honor on Monday after earning ACC Quarterback of the Week earlier in the day. The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, named eight quarterbacks as its "Stars of the Week," including Willis.
Virginia Tech fans can now vote for Willis as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week through 10 a.m. ET on Thursday: bit.ly/Vote4Willis
Willis (6-4, 223) made his first start for the Hokies in place of an injured Josh Jackson. He completed 17 of 27 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-14 win at No. 22 Duke. That yardage total marked his third career 300-yard passing game, while his three TDs were a career high. The contest marked the first start for the Overland Park, Kansas native since opening for Kansas at Baylor on Oct. 15, 2016. The redshirt-junior threw for the most passing yards since at least 1987 for a Tech quarterback in his first start for the Hokies.
The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in 2004 to honor the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that includes the candidates' bowl performances in its balloting.
Manning Award Website
The other seven Manning Award Stars of the Week are:
Ian Book, Notre Dame
Jake Browning, Washington
Will Grier, West Virginia
Marcus McMaryion, Fresno State
McKenzie Milton, UCF
Kyler Murray, Oklahoma
Jon Wassink, Western Michigan
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 29 and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.
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-three players from 60 different schools were honored during the 2017 season.