Florida State's Casey Weldon, Texas A&M's Bucky Richardson and Brigham Young's Ty Detmer have been named finalists for the 1991 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award.
A 12-member Advisory Committee selected the three finalists from a ballot of 10 quarterbacks. Weldon, Richardson and Detmer will be invited to an awards show Dec. 7, at the College Football Hall of Fame at Kings Island, Ohio.The winner will be announced on ABC-TV between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. EST.
The three finalists for the Maxwell, Outland, Jim Thorpe, Doak Walker and the Johnny Unitas awards also will be invited to Kings Island, with the honorees to be announced during the show. The Chevrolet Football Coach of the Year also will be recognized.
The 6-1, 200-pound Weldon completed 189 of 313 passes for 2,527 yards, 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions. The senior quarterback was the mainstay of the FSU team, ranked No. 1 since preseason in the various polls before a one-point loss to top-ranked Miami Nov. 16.
Richardson, a 6-2, 221-pound senior, led the No.9-ranked Aggies to a 10-1 record that included a perfect 8-0 Southwest Conference record. The Aggies will host No. 5 Florida State in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1.
Richardson established new SWC career marks by a quarterback with 2,095 rushing yards and 30 rushing touchdowns.
Detmer, the recipient of the Davey O'Brien Award and the Heisman and Maxwell trophies following the 1990 regular season, established 65 NCAA records and tied three others during his career.
This season, the 6-0, 175-pound senior led the Cougars to a third straight Western Athletic Conference title and a berth in the Thrifty Car Rental Holiday Bowl against Iowa. He completed 249 of 403 passes and 35 touchdowns during the season. For his career, Detmer hit on 958 of 1,530 attempts for 15,031 yards and 121 TDs, all NCAA marks.
The 1991 Davey O'Brien honoree and the runner-up will be honored at a dinner Feb. 10 at the Fort Worth Club.
The other players who were on the final ballot were Jeff Blake of East Carolina; Matt Blundin of Virginia; Elvis Grbac of Michigan; David Klingler of Houston; Shane Matthews of Florida; Tony Sacca of Penn State; and Gino Torretta of Miami.