Brett Smith during Nov. 19, 2011 game against the New Mexico Lobos, after which he received his second MWC player of the week award.
University of Wyoming sophomore quarterback Brett Smith has been named to the 2012 Manning Award Watch List on Monday. As a true freshman in 2011, Smith earned First Team Freshman All-America honors from CollegeFootballNews.com and Second Team Freshman All-America recognition from Yahoo! Sports.
The native of Salem, Ore., Smith was named the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year in 2011. He averaged 256.3 yards of total offense per game to rank No. 2 in the Mountain West and No. 33 overall in the NCAA. Along the way, he set a new Mountain West Conference freshman record for total offense (3,332 yards), breaking the previous record of 2,691 yards set by TCU’s Andy Dalton in 2007. Smith ranks third on Wyoming’s single-season total offense chart. He also ranks No. 3 on the Mountain West career passing list for a freshman, with 2,622 passing yards. Twice during the 2011 season, Smith was named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week for his performances versus San Diego State and New Mexico.
His best single-game performance was a 365-yard effort at San Diego State in a key 30-27 road victory that also won Smith the Manning Award National Player of the Week honor. He recorded five 300-yard total offense games his freshman season.
Smith is the only sophomore quarterback in the nation named to this year’s Manning Award Preseason Watch List. He is also one of only two Mountain West quarterbacks named to this year’s list. The other nominee is Fresno State junior Derek Carr.
Smith was invited to attend this summer’s Manning Passing Academy. Archie Manning invited him when they met at last year’s Gildan New Mexico Bowl, where Manning was the keynote speaker for the bowl luncheon.
The Manning Award was established by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in 2004 to honor the college football accomplishments of Archie Manning and his sons Peyton and Eli.
This year’s award winner will be the ninth named by the Manning Award Committee.
The award is the only college football quarterback award that includes the candidates’ bowl performances in its balloting, according to the award Allstate Sugar Bowl website.
