Florida quarterback Kyle Trask picked up another preseason accolade Tuesday, earning a spot on the watch list for the 2020 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.
Trask also garnered first-team All-SEC picks by Street & Smith’s and College Football News, which ranked him No. 16 on its list of the top 30 CFB players entering the 2020 season. UF's signal caller is ranked a top 15 preseason QB by Lindy's Sports (No. 14) and Athlon Sports (No. 15).
Following Feleipe Franks' season-ending injury in the third game of 2019, Trask took over as the starting quarterback and led the team to an 11-2 record, including the comeback win at Kentucky. Trask closed out the year with a 66.9 percent completion rate for 2,941 yards and 25 passing touchdowns. He was one of only 27 FBS quarterbacks to throw at least 25 passing touchdowns in 2019.
With a 156.09 passer rating, the ninth-highest in school history, Trask achieved the highest rating by a Gator since Tim Tebow’s nation-leading 164.2 in 2009. He also became the first Florida quarterback to record three or more touchdown passes in consecutive away SEC games, throwing three in his first road start against LSU and following it up with four, a career-high, at South Carolina.
Trask is one of 30 signal callers across the nation to be named to the list and one of just five SEC quarterbacks. The four others within the conference include Alabama’s Mac Jones, Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond, Georgia’s Jamie Newman and Auburn’s Bo Nix. Three other quarterbacks from the state of Florida made the list: UCF’s Dillon Gabriel, Miami’s D’Eriq King and Florida Atlantic’s Chris Robison.
The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award is awarded annually to the nation’s best college quarterback. The award is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious national quarterback award and honors candidates who exemplify Davey O’Brien’s character, while showing off qualities of sportsmanship, teamwork and leadership both on and off of the field.
The selection committee is asked to evaluate candidates based on skill and athletic ability, academics, reputation, character, leadership and sportsmanship. A subset of the Committee will vote weekly for the Davey O’Brien Quarterback of the Week until semifinalists are announced on Tuesday, Nov. 10. From that list, three finalists will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 24 and the winner will be announced on Thursday, Dec. 10, during the Home Depot College Football Awards.
The last Gators QB to win the Davey O'Brien Award was Tebow in 2007.
