Auburn football: Nick Marshall named to Manning Award preseason watch list

AUBURN, Ala. — Nick Marshall garnered another preseason accolade on Thursday when it was announced he had been named to the Manning Award watch list.

A rising senior, Marshall was one of 32 quarterbacks selected for the preseason watch list. Marshall was joined by two other signal-callers from the Southeastern Conference (Ole Miss' Bo Wallace and Mississippi State's Dak Prescott) along with last year's winner, Florida State's Jameis Winston.

After throwing for 1,976 passing yards and 14 touchdowns to go with 1,068 yards and 12 scores on the ground, Marshall has been a fixture on 2014 preseason award watch lists. He had previously been named to the watch lists for the Walter Camp, Maxwell and Davey O'Brien awards. Even though Marshall is the Tigers' unquestioned starter after leading the team to the SEC title last year, he won't be in the lineup for the opener Aug. 30. Not starting is part of the punishment handed down by Auburn coach Gus Malzahn after Marshall received a citation for marijuana possession last month. Malzahn has not announced how much time Marshall will have to sit out.

Should Marshall go on to win the Manning Award, he'd be the second player in school history to do so, joining Cam Newton, who captured it in 2011.

The quarterback award, which was created to honor the achievements of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning was first given out in 2005, going to Southern California's Matt Leinart. It is the only quarterback award that takes the candidate's bowl performance into account during the voting process.

This story was originally published August 14, 2014 at 8:21 PM with the headline "Auburn football: Nick Marshall named to Manning Award preseason watch list."