QB Bryce Petty named to Davey O'Brien Watch List

A year ago, Bryce Petty was largely untested and almost entirely unknown outside the friendly confines of Waco, TX.  Then he went out and threw down one of the great statistical seasons in CFB history, racking up 32 TDs against just 3 interceptions and leading Baylor to its first Big 12 Championship ever.  At one point, we were possibly a stumble in Stillwater away from playing for the national championship.

A year later, Petty is neither of those things.  Already receiving a tremendous amount of Heisman hype for this coming season, his second at the helm of the high-powered Baylor offense, Petty is regarded as one of the best QBs in the country.  Today's announcement that he has been named to the Watch List for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award further proves the point.

Bryce Petty one of 39 QBs on @daveyobrien National Quarterback Award watch list. #SicEm pic.twitter.com/5o45UiAw1Z

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) July 16, 2014

Unlike last season, when the QB situation in the Big 12 could best be described as "muddled" -- we entered the year with David Ash and Blake Bell thought to be the standard-bearers for Big 12 QBs and neither finished the season as their team's starting QB -- the conference now has 5 QBs deemed worthy of national recognition: Petty, Davis Webb (Texas Tech), Jake Water (Kansas State), J.W. Walsh (Oklahoma State), and Trevor Knight (Oklahoma).  That's a pretty strong list, if also one that still has a couple of question marks.

Just because I like putting them in here, Bryce's stats once again:

Nice.