Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has been named one of 11 finalists for the Manning Award, the Allstate Sugar Bowl announced Thursday.

Tagovailoa has thrown for 3,189 yards and a school-record 36 touchdowns with just two interceptions on 189-of-269 passing (70.3 percent). He leads the nation in collegiate pass efficiency (212.5) and his NFL passer rating (145.6) ranks first among all FBS quarterbacks with at least 230 attempts. The sophomore is also No. 2 in ESPN’s Total QBR metric at 94.7 (out of 100). He is tied for second on the UA career touchdown pass list with 47 and has thrown for 300 or more yards an Alabama-record five times this season.

“Tua’s a very unique player,” CBS Sports analyst Gary Danielson said Wednesday. “The only player in my career doing this that throws the ball the way he does -- there are some people that just have a feel for the game -- the only one that I compare him to is Drew Brees. They have a special feel for seeing and creating and anticipating and accuracy and also being a good person at the same time.

“His teammates seem to gravitate to his personality. He’s even softened up the old ball coach (Nick Saban) a little bit on the sideline it seems to me. And that’s not easy to do. I think the fact that he was so good that he put an SEC Offensive Player of the Year on the bench, and in all fairness to everybody at Alabama, Jalen (Hurts) is a great player, but Alabama had no choice. He (Tagovailoa) was so good that they had to play him.”

Tagovailoa is joined as a finalist by Ian Book (Notre Dame), Jake Fromm (Georgia), Dwayne Haskins (Ohio State), Will Grier (West Virginia), D’Eriq King (Houston), Trevor Lawrence (Clemson), Drew Lock (Missouri), McKenzie Milton (UCF), Gardner Minshew (Washington State) and Kyler Murray (Oklahoma).

The Manning Award has been presented annually since 2004 to the nation’s top college quarterback. It is the only national quarterback award that takes the candidates’ bowl performance into account. The 2018 winner will be announced following the College Football National Championship Game.

The selection is the fourth national finalist honor for Tagovailoa. He was previously announced as a finalist for the Davey O’Brien, Maxwell and Walter Camp Player of the Year awards.

Other Alabama players, coaches named national finalists:

Senior CLASS Award -- Hale Hentges

Maxwell Award -- Tua Tagovailoa

Chuck Bednarik Award -- Quinnen Williams

Davey O’Brien Award -- Tua Tagovailoa

Biletnikoff Award -- Jerry Jeudy

Bronko Nagurski Trophy -- Quinnen Williams

Walter Camp Player of the Year -- Tua Tagovailoa

Outland Trophy -- Jonah Williams, Quinnen Williams

Dick Butkus Award -- Dylan Moses

Joe Moore Award -- Alabama offensive line*

Broyles Award -- Mike Locksley

George Munger College Coach of the Year Award -- Nick Saban*

Manning Award -- Tua Tagovailoa

* indicates the player, coach is a semifinalist

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

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