Kenny Minchey Named to Manning Award Watch List
Having guided Kentucky to six victories in his first seven career starts as the Wildcats’ quarterback, Kenny Minchey has earned recognition as a member of the Manning Award Watch List, presented annually since 2004 by the Allstate Sugar Bowl to the nation’s best quarterback, it was announced Friday.
Kentucky has risen to No. 12 in both The Associated Press and AFCA Coaches polls and already has two top 10 victories this season thanks, in part, to Minchey’s stellar play as the Cats’ signal caller on offense. The 6-foot-2, 211-pound senior from Hendersonville, Tennessee arrived last spring as a transfer and immediately took control of UK coach Will Stein’s offense.
Minchey’s steady play at quarterback has proved to be just what the Cats ordered, and he took his star turn with a game-winning overtime 2-point conversion sprint to defeat No. 10 LSU, 35-34, on Oct. 10. The victory came one week after he delivered another game-winning overtime 2-point conversion with a pass to tight end Willie Rodriguez at South Carolina that completed the largest road comeback in program history.
Minchey has started all seven games and is 141-of-206 passing for 1,552 yards and a 68.4 clip. He’s tossed 13 touchdowns and ran for another score. Minchey ranks fourth in the conference and 22nd nationally with a 68.4 completion percentage. His 13 TD tosses ranks sixth in the league and 27th nationally, while his 1,552 yards are sixth in the league and 37th among all players in the country
Minchey also has set a program record with 206 passes to start a season with only one interception. The previous record was 183 passes with only one pickoff by Maxwell Smith in 2013.
Created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the Manning Award honors the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning Family. It is the only major quarterback award that includes candidates’ performances during the postseason in determining the winner. Finalists will be announced prior to the postseason, and the winner will be named following the College Football Playoff National Championship.
In its first 22 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 16 different schools and from five different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Jayden Daniels, Stetson Bennett, Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with nine Manning Award honorees
Kentucky will return to action on Saturday, playing host to Vanderbilt. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET and the game will be televised on SEC Network.
