East Lansing — Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne was named to the Davey O’Brien Award preseason watch list on Tuesday.
The award is handed out annually to the top quarterback in college football and it comes a day after the redshirt junior was named to the preseason watch list for the Maxwell Award, given each season to the top player in college football.
Thorne was among 35 players listed along with four other Big Ten quarterbacks — Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell, Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa and Penn State’s Sean Clifford.
In his first season as a starter in 2021, Thorne threw for a Michigan State record 27 touchdowns, surpassing Kirk Cousins' 25 in 2011.