Arkansas Razorbacks

Austin Allen Makes His Way on Manning Award List

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Going into the season, there were a lot of fans not looking forward to Austin Allen taking over the reigns at quarterback. Those same fans realize now, he’s the best player on the field for Arkansas.

I was asked by our FanSided Ole Miss counterpart about Austin Allen earlier. The exact question how he compares to his brother Brandon. I’ll go ahead and say it, he’s better. Plain and simple.

Allen has shown that not only does he perform as well as his older brother but that he does it with much less around him. If Austin had the offensive line Brandon did last year, he would be putting up even better numbers than his brother.

Not only is he more clutch under pressure but Austin has shown something that has even gotten the attention of NFL draft analysts. He has toughness and passion. Two things that can’t be taught or coached. He has taken hard hits throughout the season from Bama and A&M but still gets back up to do it again. For this reason, alone he is becoming my favorite Hog in recent memory.

The Manning Award is given yearly to the top quarterback in the country. Allen is one of ten additions to the watch list midseason. A panel of selected national media, as well as Archie, Peyton, and Eli Manning will determine the ten finalists. The list of finalists will be released on December 2nd and the winner will be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship on January 11th, 2017.