Indiana University Athletics
LoVecchio on O'Brien Watch List
7/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
July 25, 2003
Bloomington, Ind. - Indiana junior quarterback Matt LoVecchio is on the preseason watch list for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, presented to the nation's top quarterback.
LoVecchio is in his first year at Indiana, but will lead the Hoosiers' West Coast offense after transferring from Notre Dame after the 2001 season. While at Notre Dame, LoVecchio established a school record that still stands for lowest single-season interception percentage, having only one of his 125 pass attempts in the 2000 season picked off (.008 pct.) During his two-year career in South Bend, LoVecchio played in 15 games, starting nine. He completed 107 of his 194 pass attempts (.552 pct.) for 1,267 yards and 12 touchdowns. He started the last eight games of his freshman season, leading the Irish to a berth in the 2001 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
LoVecchio successfully ran a Fighting Irish offense that did not emphasize the passing game nearly as much as Indiana's under offensive coordinator Al Borges. LoVecchio now leads a Hoosier offensive unit that broke the single-season school record for passing yards in 2002 under Borges and returns its five top receivers.
The O'Brien Award is the oldest and most prestigious award in the country for college quarterbacks and is named in honor of the late Davey O'Brien, the All-American and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback for Texas Christian University who led the Horned Frogs to the 1938 national championship.
Indiana has never had one of its student-athletes win the Davey O'Brien Award.
Semifinalists will be announced in early November and narrowed to three finalists later in that month by the O'Brien National Advisory Committee. The committee is comprised of nationally known sportswriters, commentators and other members of the media. The winner of the 2003 O'Brien Award will be announced Dec. 11 on the ESPN College Football Awards Show from Orlando, Fla. The winner will be honored at the 27th annual O'Brien Awards Dinner in February 2004, at The Fort Worth Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
The 42 candidates on the watch list are:
Asad Abdul-Khaliq Sr. Minnesota
Brock Berlin Jr. Miami
Jon Beutjer Sr. Illinois
Casey Bramlet Sr. Wyoming
Timmy Chang Jr. Hawaii
Casey Clausen Sr. Tennessee
Ryan Dinwiddie Sr. Boise State
Darian Durant Jr. North Carolina
Josh Fields Jr. Oklahoma State
David Greene Jr. Georgia
Gino Guidugli Jr. Cincinnati
Darrell Hackney Soph. UAB
Adam Hall Sr. San Diego State
Chance Harridge Sr. Air Force
Josh Harris Sr. Bowling Green
Carlyle Holiday Sr. Notre Dame
Craig Krenzel Sr. Ohio State
Jammal Lord Sr. Nebraska
Jared Lorenzen Sr. Kentucky
J.P. Losman Sr. Tulane
Matt LoVecchio Jr. Indiana
Scott McBrien Sr. Maryland
Luke McCown Sr. Louisiana Tech
Rasheed Marshall Jr. West Virginia
Eli Manning Sr. Ole Miss
Zack Mills Jr. Penn State
John Navarre Sr. Michigan
Kyle Orton Jr. Purdue
Cody Pickett Sr. Washington
Bryan Randall Jr. Virginia Tech
Philip Rivers Sr. North Carolina State
Chris Rix Jr. Florida State
Ell Roberson Sr. Kansas State
Ben Roethlisberger Jr. Miami (Ohio)
Rod Rutherford Sr. Pittsburgh
Matt Schaub Sr. Virginia
Ryan Schneider Sr. Central Florida
Brad Smith Soph. Missouri
Bradlee Van Pelt Sr. Colorado State
Andrew Walter Jr. Arizona State
Bill Whittemore Sr. Kansas
Danny Wimprine Jr. Memphis
