UTSA senior Frank Harris was named a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award for the second straight season.
Harris is one of 21 semifinalists selected after tabulating the results of the Davey O'Brien National Selection Committee's ballots as well as social media fan votes courtesy of the Davey O'Brien Fan Vote.
In alphabetical order, the semifinalists are: Stetson Bennett of Georgia, LSU's Jayden Daniels, Max Duggan of TCU, UTSA's Frank Harris, Sam Hartman of Wake Forest, Tennessee's Hendon Hooker, Drake Maye of North Carolina, Coastal Carolina's Grayson McCall, J.J. McCarthy of Michigan, SMU's Tanner Mordecai, Bo Nix of Oregon, Washington's Michael Penix Jr., Austin Reed of WKU, Utah's Cameron Rising, Will Rogers of Mississippi State, Ohio's Kurtis Rourke, C.J. Stroud of Ohio State, UCLA's Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Jordan Travis of Florida State, USC's Caleb Williams and Bryce Young of Alabama.
Harris joins Bennett, Hartman, Hooker, McCall, Rogers, Stroud, Williams and Young as repeat semifinalists. Young won the 2021 Davey O'Brien Award.
Harris has guided UTSA to an 8-2 overall record and a perfect 6-0 start to Conference USA play this season. The Schertz Clemens High product has completed 246 of 356 passes (.691) for 3,039 yards and 22 TDs and he has added 401 yards and five scores on the ground. He has been named Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week four times this fall and he owns five of the top six individual passing performances in program annals with four occurring in the first five games this season. Harris currently ranks third in the nation in total offense with a league-best 344.0 yards per game, and he stands eighth in passing yards and completion percentage (.691), 11th in completions per game (24.6), 16th in passing efficiency (157.8) and points responsible for (166) and 18th in passing TDs.
The 2022 C-USA Preseason Offensive Player of the Year owns a 28-10 record as the starting QB and more than 30 school records. He has thrown for 8,332 yards and 64 touchdowns on 734-of-1,096 passing (.670) — all program records — and rushed for 1,621 yards and 20 TDs, the most in a career by a UTSA quarterback. In fact, Harris is one of only eight active FBS quarterbacks with 8,000 or more passing yards and 1,500-plus rushing yards, and he has piled up those numbers in the second-fewest number of games (40) among that group.
The next step in the process will be to select the award's three finalists based on voting from the Davey O'Brien National Selection Committee as well as the second round of the Davey O'Brien Fan Vote, which will take place on the award's three social media accounts—Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The top five vote getters on each platform 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 post highlighting the quarterback. The three finalists will be tabbed on Tuesday, Nov. 29. The winner will be announced live on Thursday, Dec. 8 on The Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN.
The Davey O'Brien Foundation was created in 1977, and the National Quarterback Award, the oldest and most prestigious college quarterback award, was first issued in 1981. Over its time, the Davey O'Brien Foundation has given away more than $1.2 million in scholarships and university grants to help high school and college athletes transform leadership on the field into leadership in life.
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.