CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Davey O’Brien Foundation named junior quarterback Brad Kaaya from the University of Miami Football team to the 2016 Davey O’Brien Preseason Watch List on Thursday.
 
Kaaya, who was selected to the preseason watch list for the second consecutive season, is one of 30 student-athletes named to the preseason watch list. 
 
The Los Angeles native continues to add to his list of preseason accolades. On Wednesday, Kaaya was selected to the American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team and Wuerffel Trophy Watch List for his community service work. Earlier this month, Kaaya was selected to the 2016 Maxwell Award Preseason Watch List.
 
Kaaya earned the preseason honor after he posted a strong sophomore season in which he threw for over 3,000 yards for the second straight year, passed for 16 touchdowns and had just five interceptions. Kaaya was one of just three players nationally to throw for 3,000-or-more yards, 10-or-more touchdowns and five-or-fewer interceptions.
 
Following the 2015 season, Kaaya earned All-ACC Third-Team honors from the coaches and Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Kaaya enters his junior season with 6,436 career-passing yards and stands fifth on the all-time list at Miami. He needs just 3,130 yards to become the Hurricanes’ all-time passing leader.
 
Sixteen semifinalists for the award will be named on Thursday, Nov. 10. From that list, the Foundation and the Selection Committee will announce the three finalists on Tuesday, Nov. 22. The 2016 Davey O’Brien Award winner will be announced live Thursday, Dec. 8 on The Home Depot College Football Awards.
 
The 2016 season marks the 10th year that fans will be invited to participate in the voting process on www.voteobrien.org. Results from the Davey O’Brien Fan Vote will be combined with the ballots from the Selection Committee. Fan voting, which accounts for five percent of the total balloting, will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
 
Previous Davey O’Brien Award winners include: Jim McMahon (BYU, 1981), Todd Blackledge (Penn State, 1982), Steve Young (BYU, 1983), Doug Flutie (Boston College, 1984), Chuck Long (Iowa, 1985), Vinny Testaverde (Miami, 1986), Don McPherson (Syracuse, 1987), Troy Aikman (UCLA, 1988), Andre Ware (Houston, 1989), Ty Detmer (BYU, 1990-91), Gino Torretta (Miami, 1992), Charlie Ward (Florida State, 1993), Kerry Collins (Penn State, 1994), Danny Wuerffel (Florida, 1995-96), Peyton Manning (Tennessee, 1997), Michael Bishop (Kansas State, 1998), Joe Hamilton (Georgia Tech, 1999), Chris Weinke (Florida State, 2000), Eric Crouch (Nebraska, 2001), Brad Banks (Iowa, 2002), White (Oklahoma, 2003-04), Vince Young (Texas, 2005), Troy Smith (Ohio State, 2006), Tim Tebow (Florida, 2007), Sam Bradford (Oklahoma, 2008), Colt McCoy (Texas, 2009), Cam Newton (Auburn, 2010), Robert Griffin III (Baylor, 2011), Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M, 2012), Jameis Winston (Florida State, 2013), Marcus Mariota (Oregon, 2014) and Watson (Clemson, 2015).
 
The 40th Annual Davey O’Brien Awards Dinner will be held Monday, Feb. 20, 2017, in Fort Worth, Texas.