The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Ehlinger named Davey O’Brien “Great 8” for Week Four
09.24.2018 | Football
The Davey O’Brien Award will announce its Quarterback of the Week on Thursday.
FORT WORTH, Texas - Texas Longhorn quarterback Sam Ehlinger was named one of eight honorees for the Davey O'Brien Award's "Great 8" list for week four.
Ehlinger, a native of Austin, passed for 255 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's win over No. 17 TCU. He also ran for a touchdown. It was the third straight game that he has had two passing and one rushing touchdown, becoming the first Longhorn QB since Colt McCoy in 2008 to do so.
He is the first quarterback in school history to pass for at least 200 yards and two touchdowns in each of the season's first four games. Ehlinger's 2018 season marks just the fifth time in school history that a Texas QB has begun a season with four straight 200-yard passing games. Colt McCoy (2007, '09), Major Applewhite (1999) and Peter Gardere (1992) are the others to do so.
Ehlinger and the Longhorns take to the road to face the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday afternoon in Manhattan. Kickoff is slated for 2:30 p.m. CT inside Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium and will be televised by FS1.
The eight honorees, as determined by voting from the award's selection subcommittee, are: Purdue's David Blough, Ian Book of Notre Dame, Texas Tech's Alan Bowman, K.J. Costello of Stanford, Texas' Sam Ehlinger, Mitchell Guadagni of Toledo, Old Dominion's Blake LaRussa and Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama.
Eighty years ago, O'Brien, who wore No. 8 as 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 (1938). He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955.
O'Brien was drafted fourth overall in the 1939 NFL Draft and earned Pro Bowl honors in his rookie season after setting a National Football League record for season passing yardage. The NFL's highest-paid player retired after the 1940 season to become an FBI agent.
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. The Davey O'Brien Fan Vote, now in its 12th year, gives fans a chance to play a role in determining the award winner by voting daily at VoteOBrien.org.
Since 1977, the Davey O'Brien Foundation has given away more than $1 million in scholarships and university grants to help high school and college athletes transform leadership on the field into leadership in life. For more information, visit DaveyOBrien.org.
