BALTIMORE, Md. — Dalton Sturm was one of 47 quarterbacks that were named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award preseason watch list on Wednesday. The Golden Arm Award is presented annually to the nation's top senior or fourth-year junior signal caller and is selected based on his accomplishments both on and off the field.
Sturm, a former walk-on who has started the Roadrunners' last 20 games dating back to the 2015 campaign, is coming off a junior season that saw him connect on 169-of-299 passes (56.5 percent) for 2,170 yards and 20 touchdowns, including four completions of more than 70 yards — 71, 73, 75 & 77 — and those rank second through fifth on the program's all-time list. The Goliad native also rushed for 313 yards and four TDs on 110 carries.
He comes into his senior year with career marks of 24 games played (20 starts), 297 completions in 514 attempts (57.8 percent), 3,583 passing yards, 34 touchdowns, 240 rushing attempts for another 682 yards and five more scores.
The Golden Arm Award committee will announce the Top 15 finalists in September and the 30th anniversary presentation will take place on Dec. 8 at the Embassy Suites Baltimore Inner Harbor & Grand.
Now in its 30th year and presented by the The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation, the award recognizes the country's top quarterback who is a senior or fourth-year junior on schedule to graduate with their class.
The namesake of the Golden Arm Award has a storied history.
Johnny Unitas was an 18-year veteran of the National Football League, who played his collegiate career at Louisville before joining the Baltimore Colts in 1958. His career passing statistics include 2,830 pass completions for 40,239 yards and 290 touchdowns, including a scoring toss in 47 consecutive games.
Past winners include Tennessee's Peyton Manning (1997), USC's Carson Palmer (2002), Mississippi's Eli Manning (2003), Notre Dame's Brady Quinn (2006), Boston College's Matt Ryan (2007), Texas' Colt McCoy (2009), Stanford's Andrew Luck (2011), Oregon's Marcus Mariota (2014), Michigan's Connor Cook (2015) and Clemson's Deshaun Watson (2016).
2017 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Preseason Watch List
Austin Allen, Arkansas
Kyle Allen, Houston
J.T. Barrett, Ohio State
Kurt Berkert, Virginia
David Blough, Purdue
Ahmad Bradshaw, Army
Max Browne, Pittsburgh
Christian Chapman, San Diego State
Keller Chryst, Stanford
Brandon Dawkins, Troy
Jason Driskel, Florida Atlantic
Jesse Ertz, Kansas State
Danny Etling, LSU
Luke Falk, Washington State
Riley Ferguson, Memphis
Ryan Finley, North Carolina State
Nick Fitzgerald, Mississippi State
Quinton Flowers, South Florida
Andrew Ford, Massachusetts
Justice Hansen, Arkansas State
Brandon Harris, North Carolina
Kenny Hill, TCU
Stephen Johnson, Kentucky
Taylor Lamb, Appalachian State
Richard Lagow, Indiana
Tanner Lee, Nebraska
Matt Linehan, Idaho
Connor Manning, Georgia State
Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma
Trace McSorley, Penn State
Ryan Metz, UTEP
Hayden Moore, Cincinnati
Kent Myers, Utah State
Josh Rosen, UCLA
Mason Rudolph, Oklahoma State
Nic Shimonek, Texas Tech
Bryant Shirreffs, Connecticut
Brandon Silvers, Troy
Wilton Speight, Michigan
Nick Stevens, Colorado State
Brent Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
Dalton Sturm, UTSA
Clayton Thorson, Northwestern
Mike White, WKU
Troy Williams, Utah
Logan Woodside, Toledo
Darius Wade, Boston College
