Sophomore quarterback now appears on four national award watch lists, the most since Quinton Flowers in 2017
TAMPA, AUG.14, 2024 – Record-breaking South Florida quarterback Byrum Brown (Raleigh, N.C.) added another mark to his growing list as he joined Quinton Flowers (2014-17) as the only USF players named to more than three national award watch lists when Brown was named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Watch List on Wednesday.
It marked his fourth appearance on a national award watch list. Brown was previously named to the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List and to the Walter Camp and Maxwell awardwatch lists, both presented annually to the college football player of the year. The most recent announcement brings USF’s total to eight national awards watch lists that Bulls appear on entering the 2024 season, USF’s most since 13 entering the 2017 season.
Flowers was named to five national award watch lists entering the 2017 season and went on to be a finalist for the Unitas Award while setting 42 USF program records and leading the Bulls to a 10-2 record and 17 weeks ranked in the Top 25.
Brown will square off against several other top quarterbacks in the nation during the first six weeks of the 2024 season. He will face Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 7 and Miami quarterback Cam Ward in Raymond James Stadium on Sept. 21. Memphis quarterback Seth Hennigan comes to Raymond James Stadium for a big Friday, primetime ESPN game on Oct. 11.
Tickets for USF football games can be purchased at USFBullsTix.com or by calling 1-800-GoBulls.
The sophomore quarterback set USF season marks for passing yards (3,292), touchdowns (26), completions (276), and completion percentage (64.6%) and tied the Bulls game record for touchdown passes with five at Memphis in his first season in head coach Alex Golesh’s offense. He also led the Bulls with 809 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground, joining 2023 Heisman Trophy and Davey O’Brien Award winner Jayden Daniels of LSU as the only players in FBS football to register 3,000-plus yards passing and 800-plus yards rushing.
Brown’s 4,101 total yards in 2023 are the second-best season total in program history behind only Quinton Flowers, and he enters the 2024 season standing sixth on the Bulls’ all-time career passing chart (3,696). Honored by the AAC six times in the conference weekly awards in 2023, Brown was key to the Bulls’ program-best, six-game win improvement capped by a 45-0 victory over Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl. He led the Bulls to come-from-behind wins at UConn and Navy, and his 517 total yards in a victory over Rice (including 435 passing) rank as the second-best total in program history.
USF returns 19 starters in 2024 (nine on offense, eight on defense, and two specialists) from a team that set 12 team and 16 individual program records while going 7-6 (a program-best six-game turnaround) and claiming a 45-0 Boca Raton Bowl victory over Syracuse in 2023.
The Bulls return record-setting starting quarterback Brown, 85 percent of their rushing yards, 84 percent of their receiving yards and four primary starters on the offensive line. On defense, USF returns nine of its top 11 tacklers led by Shuler, who logged a team-best 97 stops to go with 8.5 tackles for loss in 2023.
The Bulls open the season Aug. 31 vs. Bethune-Cookman in Raymond James Stadium before road games at Alabama (Sept. 7) and Southern Mississippi (Sept. 14) and a home clash with Miami (Sept. 21).
BULLS ON PRESEASON NATIONAL AWARD WATCH LISTS (8)
Maxwell Award Byrum Brown, QB
Walter Camp Award Byrum Brown, QB
Davey O’Brien Award Byrum Brown, QB
Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Byrum Brown, QB
Biletnikoff Award Sean Atkins, WR
Come Back Player of the Year Jason Vaughn, DE
Doak Walker Award Nay’Quan Wright, RB
Outland Trophy Zane Herring, OG
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ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 27th season in 2023 with a program-best six-game turnaround and Boca Raton Bowl victory under first-year head coach Alex Golesh. USF completed construction on a new $22 million Indoor Performance Facility in 2023 and a $340-million on-campus stadium and football operations center is slated for completion by 2027. The Bulls have posted 16 winning seasons, earned 16 All-America selections (including two consensus selections, the last coming in 2021), as well as 32 first-team all-conference honorees. USF has had 30 players selected in the NFL Draft and the Bulls have made 11 bowl game appearances (going 7-4), posting a program-record six straight appearances from 2005-2010 and making four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18. USF posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016, while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 campaigns and reached as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings during the 2007 season.
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