Ballard named to Davey O'Brien Watch List
8/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 28, 2006
FORT WORTH, Texas -- TCU's Jeff Ballard has been named to the preseason watch list for the 2006 Davey O'Brien Award, presented annually to the nation's best college quarterback.The O'Brien Award is the oldest and most prestigious award in the country for college quarterbacks and is named in honor of the late Davey O'Brien. O'Brien led TCU to the 1938 national championship and was the first player to win the Heisman, Walter Camp and Maxwell awards in the same season.
After posting an 8-0 record in a starting role last year, Ballard was selected as TCU's 2005 Dan Rogers Most Valuable Player. The senior from Friendswood, Texas, completed 59.9 percent of his pass attempts for 1,801 yards and 13 touchdowns. The 59.9 mark was just shy of TCU's single-season school record of 60.1 (Tim Schade, 1991). Ballard also ran for 314 yards and eight scores.
Ballard took over for an injured Tye Gunn with TCU trailing BYU 34-16 late in the third quarter in a week four contest in Provo. He then led the Horned Frogs to five consecutive touchdowns as TCU rallied for a 51-50 overtime victory, the largest come-from-behind win in coach Gary Patterson's five-year tenure.
In his first collegiate start the following week, Ballard tied LaDainian Tomlinson's single-game TCU record of accounting for six touchdowns when he ran for four scores and passed for two in a 49-28 victory over New Mexico.
Included below is a list of TCU players on 2006 preseason watch lists for major awards:
*Jeff Ballard, QB - Davey O'Brien Award
*Tommy Blake, DE - Chuck Bednarik Award, Ted Hendricks Award, Lombardi Trophy, Lott Trophy, Bronko Nagurski Trophy
*Chris Manfredini, PK - Lou Groza Award
*Chase Ortiz, DE - Ted Hendricks Award, Lombardi Trophy, Bronko Nagurski Trophy
*Jason Phillips, LB - Butkus Award
*Herb Taylor, OT - Lombardi Trophy, Outland Trophy
The No. 21 Frogs open the 2006 campaign Sunday with a 4:30 p.m. nationally-televised (Fox Sports Net) contest at Baylor.
