PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – WKU Football quarterback Bailey Zappe has been added to the Maxwell Award Watch List, it was announced by the Maxwell Football Club on Wednesday afternoon. The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the most outstanding player in college football.
There were 10 additions to the Maxwell Award Watch List and seven additions to the Chuck Bednarik Award Watch List, which Hilltopper defensive end DeAngelo Malone was named to during the preseason.
Zappe is now 1-of-90 players in all of Division I to make the watch list, including 1-of-43 quarterbacks and only 1-of-4 Conference USA players represented.
Through four games, the Victoria, Texas, native has completed 133-of-183 (72.7%) passes for 1,712 yards and 16 touchdowns, compared to only two interceptions. Zappe has thrown 144 consecutive passes without a pick, the third-longest streak in WKU history behind Tyrell Pigrome’s streak of 279 in 2020 and Mike White’s streak of 161 in 2017.
Zappe’s 428-yard passing average leads all FBS quarterbacks, with the next-closest being Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong at 394.6 yards. The graduate senior transfer from Houston Baptist leads all of college football with 11,716 career passing yards – a 285.8-yard average in 41 career games.
Zappe has already collected two C-USA Offensive Player of the Week awards through the early stretch of the season, joining Brandon Doughty and Mike White as the only WKU quarterbacks to earn multiple C-USA Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Semifinalists will be announced November 1, while the three finalists for the Maxwell Award will be unveiled November 22. The winners of the 2021 Maxwell and Bednarik Awards will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on December 9. The formal presentations of the Maxwell Award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala hosted by Tropicana Hotel & Casino Atlantic City on March 11, 2022.
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