Oklahoma State quarterback Mason Rudolph beat out Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield on Thursday to win the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given to the nation's top senior quarterback.
"Winning the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award is a meaningful honor for me because this is a reflection of how I was raised," Rudolph said. "I was taught from a young age that there is more to life than football and I'm thankful to the committee for selecting me. I am humbled and thankful to everyone who helped me get to this point."
Rudolph finished the regular season as the leading passer in the FBS, with 4,553 passing yards and an average of 379.4 yards per game.
The award takes into account success on the field and also notes that winners are "judged on their character, citizenship, scholastic achievement, and leadership qualities."
"Mason represents our football program the right way. He's won a ton of games for us. He's played with broken ribs, he's played with a broken foot and he's been tremendous for this school and tremendous for society," Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy said. "I had a conversation with his mom and dad and told them for everything that he's done (on the field), as a parent, you should be more proud of what he's done (in the community). He's awesome."
Other finalists were Mayfield, Ohio State's J.T. Barrett, NC State's Ryan Finley and Penn State's Trace McSorley.
The award ceremony is Dec. 8 in Baltimore.
Past Golden Arm Award winners include Peyton Manning (Tennessee, 1997); Carson Palmer (Southern California, 2002); Eli Manning (Ole Miss, 2003); Matt Ryan (Boston College, 2007); Andrew Luck (Stanford, 2011), Marcus Mariota (Oregon, 2014) and Deshaun Watson (Clemson, 2016).