Joe Burrow has won the 2019 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, presented annually by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation Inc. and A.O. Smith Corp. to the nation's top quarterback who best exemplifies character, scholastic and athletic achievement. Burrow is the first LSU Tiger to win this prestigious award.

 

On the verge of becoming the most decorated offensive player in LSU history, Burrow has set numerous school records as a senior in 2019. He has led LSU to a perfect 12-0 mark and a No. 1 national ranking during the regular season. He is the first player in Southeastern Conference (SEC) history to throw for 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns (TDs) in the same season and he broke the SEC single-season passing yards record in 2019 with 4,614 and tied the SEC single-season mark for passing TDs with 44. The Ohio-native owns numerous LSU records, including passing yards, passing TDs, total offense, completions, and led LSU to eight wins over Top 10 teams during his career, the most of any quarterback in school history. Burrow is currently 22-3 as LSU's starting quarterback and is only the second quarterback in LSU history to guide the Tigers to back-to-back 10-win seasons, ranking No. 5 in LSU history in passing yards with 7,260 and he did it in just two years. He completed more than 20 passes in 15-straight games and he is the first quarterback in school history with four or more and owns 12,300-yard career passing games and 10 in 2019, which are both the most in school history.

 

Burrow's achievements will be honored on Wednesday, Dec. 11 in Baltimore. The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation and A. O. Smith are happy to be hosting this year's event at the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore. The 2012 Golden Arm Award recipient, Collin Klein, will deliver the keynote remarks at the event.

 

Candidates for the Golden Arm Award — which has been presented at the end of each college football season since 1987 — must be college seniors or fourth-year juniors on schedule to graduate with their class. In addition to the accomplishments on the field, candidates are judged on their character, citizenship, scholastic achievement, teamwork and leadership qualities.

 

Past standout winners of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award include Peyton Manning (Tennessee, 1997); Carson Palmer (USC, 2002); Eli Manning (Ole Miss, 2003); Brady Quinn (Notre Dame, 2006); Matt Ryan (Boston College, 2007); Colt McCoy (Texas, 2009); Andrew Luck (Stanford, 2011); Marcus Mariota (Oregon, 2014); Connor Cook (Michigan State, 2015); Deshaun Watson (Clemson, 2016); Mason Rudolph (Oklahoma State, 2017); and last year's winner, Gardner Minshew II (Washington State).

 

Sponsors of the Golden Arm Award Presented by A. O. Smith include: MedStar Sports Medicine, The Babe Ruth Museum, Century Engineering, Comcast, Dunbar Security Solutions, Dunbar Protective Services, The Four Season Hotel Baltimore, Haddock Investments, Harvey Agency, HMS Insurance Associates Inc., Milwaukee Tool, PSAV, Panini, TRAY, TTI, The Scott Garceau Show, SILKS, Wilson Sporting Goods, Wolf Professional Security Inc. and ZBest Executive & Global Transportation Services.