Kyle Trask’s dream season continues to be recognized.
On Thursday Trask was named a finalist for the Manning Award. The award is named after Archie Manning and his son’s Peyton and Eli and is given to the “collegiate American football quarterback adjudged to be the best in the United States.” It is also the only award that takes a quarterback’s performance in his team’s bowl game into account.
When Feleipe Franks went down with a broken ankle in the fourth quarter against Kentucky the Gators’ season was in serious doubt. Trask helped lead a comeback against Kentucky and led Florida to a 10-win season. He’s been one of the best stories in college football this season.
Trask has thrown for 2,636 yards and 24 touchdowns this season. With 307 passing yards in Florida’s bowl game, Trask will have the ninth-best single-season yardage mark in Florida history, despite not playing much, or at all, in the first 11 quarters of the season. He’s thrown for more than 275 yards in a game on five occasions, inkling the first 300-yard passing game as a Gator since Tim Tebow.
Trask is also a semifinalist for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award.