Aug. 17, 2009
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State sophomore Ryan Lindley (Alpine, Calif./El Capitan HS) has been named to the preseason watch list for the Manning Award, presented by the Allstate Sugar Bowl to the nation's top collegiate quarterback. Lindley, who set the school and Mountain West Conference records last season for passing yards by a freshman, is one of 38 quarterbacks on the list and one of just six sophomores.
Lindley becomes the second Aztec player to be named to a national award watch list this season, joining center Trask Iosefa (Rimington Trophy Watch List). He is one of three MWC quarterbacks on the Manning Award Watch List along with TCU senior Andy Dalton and Brigham Young senior Max Hall.
A native of Alpine, Calif., Lindley earned team offensive most valuable player honors last season as a redshirt freshman. He started 10 games, completing 242-of-427 passes for a 56.7 completion percentage with 16 touchdowns and 2,653 yards. Lindley ended the season ranked 24th nationally in passing average, including second among freshmen, and 42nd in total offense (fourth among freshmen). He also had the seventh-best passing efficiency among all freshmen at 117.01. He also became just the second freshman in school history to start a season-opening game for the Aztecs, joining two-time All-American and the school's all-time career passing leader, Todd Santos.
Against Idaho last year, Lindley threw for a career-high 433 yards to become the 14th quarterback in school history to record a 400-yard passing game. Lindley, who also had four 300-yard passing days on the season, finished his freshman campaign on a high note, completing 35-of-50 passes for 387 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in San Diego State's 42-21 victory over UNLV.
The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. Ten finalists will be determined by a selected panel of national media covering college football, as well as each of the Mannings. That list will be released on Monday, Nov. 30. The winner will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 14.
The first four winners of the Manning Award reads like a Who's Who list at the quarterback position. USC's Matt Leinart was the inaugural winner of the award in 2005, followed by Texas' Vince Young in 2006. Both went on to be top-10 NFL draft picks. In 2007, LSU's JaMarcus Russell earned the award and was the NFL's No. 1 draft pick. Boston College's Matt Ryan claimed the award in 2008 and was drafted No. 3, quickly becoming the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons.
Season tickets for the six-game home schedule start at just $56 or as little as $9.33 per game and are available through the Aztec Ticket Office at (619) 283-SDSU. Single-game tickets (starting at $11) and mini-plans, that feature three home games and a $20 ticket to an SDSU men's basketball conference game are also available starting at just $40.
2009 Manning Award Watch List
Austen Arnaud (Jr., Iowa State)
Sam Bradford (Jr., Oklahoma)
Levi Brown (Sr., Troy)
Darryll Clark (Sr., Penn State)
Jimmy Clausen (Jr., Notre Dame)
Andy Dalton (Sr., TCU)
Austin Davis (So., Southern Miss)
Armanti Edwards (Sr., Appalachian State)
Robert Griffin III (So., Baylor)
Matt Grothe (Sr., USF)
Max Hall (Sr., BYU)
Tim Hiller (Sr., Western Michigan)
Jerrod Johnson (Jr., Texas A&M)
Colin Kaepernick (Jr., Nevada)
Case Keenum (Jr., Houston)
Dan LeFevour (Sr., Central Michigan)
Corey Leonard (Sr., Arkansas State)
Thaddeus Lewis (Sr., Duke)
Ryan Lindley (So., San Diego State)
Jake Locker (Jr., Washington)
Jeremiah Masoli (Jr., Oregon)
Colt McCoy (Sr., Texas)
Kellen Moore (So., Boise State)
Tony Pike (Sr., Cincinnati)
Terrelle Prior (So., Ohio State)
Todd Reesing (Sr., Kansas)
Zac Robinson (Sr., Oklahoma State)
Tyler Sheehan (Sr., Bowling Green)
Riley Skinner (Sr., Wake Forest)
Rusty Smith (Sr., Florida Atlantic)
Jevan Snead (Jr., Ole Miss)
Ricky Stanzi (Jr., Iowa)
Tim Tebow (Sr., Florida)
Trevor Vittatoe (Jr., UTEP)
Adam Weber (Jr., Minnesota)
Juice Williams (Sr., Illinois)
Russell Wilson (So., N.C. State)
T.J. Yates (Jr., North Carolina)