Washington State quarterback John Mateer was one of 35 quarterbacks named to the Davey O’Brien Award QB Class of 2024, the award announced Tuesday.
The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award is presented annually to the nation’s best college quarterback and is the oldest and most prestigious national quarterback award. In 1938, O’Brien, who was a star quarterback for TCU, became the first player ever to win the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Award in the same year. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955.
Mateer, who was named to the Maxwell Award Watch List and Manning Award Watch List, enters the week with 2,153 passing yards, 18 passing touchdowns and leading the team with 575 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns. The redshirt-sophomore opened the season setting a school record with six total touchdowns in his first career start, the most by any Cougar quarterback in their first career start. Mateer followed with another school record in the week two win over Texas Tech, setting the top mark for rushing yards by a quarterback with 197 and added two more rushing touchdowns in the win over Washington in Seattle. In the double-overtime win over San Jose State, Mateer became the first player in program history with 300 pass yards and 100 rush yards, recording 501 yards of total offense along the way, the second-best total offense mark in the country this season. In the win over Hawai’i, Mateer rushed for two touchdowns and threw for three more while completing 23-of-27 passes, the fourth-best completion percentage (85.0) in WSU single-game history.
In last week’s win at San Diego State, Mateer rushed for two scores and threw for two scores in his third fourth-quarter comeback win of the season. WSU is 7-1 for the first time since 2018 and entered the week ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press Top-25.
The Little Elm, Texas native enters the week fifth nationally with 341.0 yards of total offense, seventh with 14.5 yards-per-completion, third in the country with 26 runs of 10+ yards and with 43 missed tackles, the most by any quarterback in the country this season.
The next step in the process will be to select the award’s 16 semifinalists from the 35 quarterbacks. The semifinalists will be chosen based on voting from the Davey O’Brien National Selection Committee as well as bonus ballots awarded from the first round of the Davey O’Brien Fan Vote.
For the fifth straight year, the Fan Vote will take place on the award’s three social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (X)—and the top five vote getters on each platform will receive bonus committee member ballots which will be added to the votes cast by the National Selection Committee.
To participate in the Fan Vote, fans must like the original Davey O’Brien Award (@daveyobrien) post highlighting their quarterback. First-round voting will close Friday, Nov. 8 at 11:59 p.m. (ET). The semifinalists will be named on Tuesday, Nov. 12. Looking ahead, the three finalists will be tabbed on Tuesday, Nov. 26, while the winner will be announced live on Thursday, Dec. 12, on The Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN.
The Davey O’Brien Foundation was created in 1977, and the National Quarterback Award was first issued in 1981. Over its time, the Davey O’Brien Foundation has given away more than $1.3 million in scholarships and university grants to help high school and college athletes transform leadership on the field into leadership in life.
The 48th Annual Davey O’Brien Awards Dinner honoring the winner will be held Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, at The Fort Worth Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2024
Drew Allar, Penn State, Jr., 6-5, 235, Medina, Ohio
Luke Altmyer, Illinois, Jr., 6-2, 205, Starkville, Miss.
Rocco Becht, Iowa State, So., 6-1, 210, Wesley Chapel, Fla.
Carson Beck, Georgia, Sr., 6-4, 220, Jacksonville, Fla.
Max Brosmer, Minnesota, Sr., 6-2, 225, Roswell, Ga.
Bryson Daily, Army West Point, Sr., 6-0, 221, Abernathy, Texas
Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss, Sr., 6-2, 225, Kaysville, Utah
Kyron Drones, Virginia Tech, Jr., 6-2, 234, Houston, Texas
Quinn Ewers, Texas, Jr., 6-2, 210, Southlake, Texas
Dillon Gabriel, Oregon, Sr., 6-0, 200, Mililani, Hawaii
Eli Holstein, Pittsburgh, R-Fr., 6-4, 225, Zachary, La.
Josh Hoover, TCU, So., 6-2, 200, Heath, Texas
Blake Horvath, Navy, Jr., 6-2, 195, Hilliard, Ohio
Will Howard, Ohio State, Sr., 6-4, 235, Downingtown, Pa.
Kevin Jennings, SMU, So., 6-0, 185, Oak Cliff, Texas
Avery Johnson, Kansas State, So., 6-2, 192, Wichita, Kan.
Cade Klubnik, Clemson, Jr., 6-2, 210, Austin, Texas
Riley Leonard, Notre Dame, Sr., 6-4, 216, Fairhope, Ala.
Maddux Madsen, Boise State, So., 5-10, 201, American Fork, Utah
John Mateer, Washington State, So., 6-1, 219, Little Elm, Texas
Jordan McCloud, Texas State, Sr., 6-0, 205, Tampa, Fla.
Kyle McCord, Syracuse, Sr., 6-3, 220, Mt. Laurel, N.J.
Jalen Milroe, Alabama, Jr., 6-2, 225, Katy, Texas
Chandler Morris, North Texas, Jr., 6-0, 191, Highland Park, Texas
Garrett Nussmeier, LSU, Jr., 6-2, 200, Lake Charles, La.
Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt, Sr., 6-0, 207, Albuquerque, N.M.
Jake Retzlaff, BYU, Jr., 6-1, 205, Corona, Calif.
Kurtis Rourke, Indiana, Sr., 6-5, 223, Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado, Sr., 6-2, 215, Dallas, Texas
Tyler Shough, Louisville, Sr., 6-5, 225, Chandler, Ariz.
Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati, So., 6-3, 228, Denton, Texas
Caden Veltkamp, Western Kentucky, So., 6-6, 236, Bowling Green, Ky.
Cam Ward, Miami, Sr., 6-2, 223, West Columbia, Texas
Hajj-Malik Williams, UNLV, Sr., 6-1, 205, Atlanta, Ga.
Ben Wooldridge, Louisiana, Sr., 6-3, 216, Pleasanton, Calif.
