Allen Added to Maxwell Award Watch List

PHILADELPHIA – After leading the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in passing yards and passing touchdowns through the first half of 2016, Arkansas junior quarterback Austin Allen was among nine midseason additions to the watch list for the 80th Maxwell Award, the Maxwell Football Club announced Wednesday.

The Maxwell Award has been presented to the outstanding collegiate football player in America since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert W. “Tiny” Maxwell.

The addition to the list comes just days after leading the Razorbacks to a 34-30 victory over No. 12 Ole Miss. Allen continued his hot play last Saturday, completing 19-of-32 passes for 229 yards and three touchdowns against a Rebel defense that had allowed only two passing touchdowns the first five games of the season.

Allen extended his streak of consecutive games of 200 yards or more passing to six, while becoming the only Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) quarterback to throw multiple touchdown passes in seven games this season. He is the first quarterback in school history and one of just four in the SEC since 2000 with multiple scoring tosses in each of the first seven games, joining Kenny Hill (Texas A&M, 2014), Andre Woodson (Kentucky, 2007) and Rex Grossman (Florida, 2001).

A product of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Allen has completed 138 of 219 passes for 1,861 yards and 18 touchdowns against six interceptions this season. His SEC-leading 18 touchdowns rank tied for seventh in the FBS and are the most in school history through the first seven games. He also ranks second in the SEC in passer rating (156.0) and third in completion percentage (63.0), passing yards per game (265.9) and yards per attempt (8.5).

Of Allen’s 18 touchdown passes, 14 have come inside the red zone to lead the SEC and rank second in the FBS.

In addition, the first-year starting signal caller leads the FBS with 1,000 passing yards against Associated Press Top 25 opponents and is tied for the FBS lead with eight passing touchdowns against such competition.

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