Oct. 19, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State's Daryll Clark (Youngstown, Ohio) is among the final 10 candidates for the 2009 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
Named after the player many refer to as the greatest quarterback ever to play the game, the prestigious Golden Arm Award is presented annually to the nation's top senior college quarterback by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation, Inc. and its presenting sponsor, Transamerica.
The 2008 first team All-Big Ten quarterback, Clark is the only Big Ten player among the final 10 candidates for the Golden Arm Award. For the season, he is 128 of 205 (62.4) for 1,654 yards, with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Clark also has run for 119 yards and has four rushing touchdowns.
The runner-up for the 2008 Big Ten Silver Football, Clark is the only is the only quarterback ranked in the top four of the conference's three primary statistical categories: pass efficiency (2nd, 144.3 rating), passing yardage (3rd, 236.3 ypg), total offense (253.3 ypg). Clark's 13 touchdown passes are second in the conference to Purdue's Joey Elliott, who has 14.
Clark earned his 10th career 200-yard passing game in Saturday's 20-0 win over Minnesota, going 21 of 32 for 287 yards, the third-highest total of his career. Penn State is 9-1 in games when Clark passes for at least 200 yards.
The former Ursuline High School standout has been responsible for 51 touchdowns in his career (32 passing, 19 rushing), moving him into a tie with Todd Blackledge (41 passing, 10 rushing) for second place at Penn State. Zack Mills is the leader in the Penn State record books with 52 career touchdowns (41 passing, 11 rushing).
In addition to Clark, the remaining candidates for the 2009 Golden Arm Award are: Jarrett Brown, West Virginia; Max Hall, BYU; Dan LeFevour, Central Michigan; Thaddeus Lewis, Duke; Colt McCoy, Texas; Tony Pike, Cincinnati; Todd Reesing, Kansas; Zac Robinson, Oklahoma State and Tim Tebow, Florida
The 2009 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner will be announced on Friday, December 11 at the Tremont Grand Meeting & Banquet Facility in downtown Baltimore. Joining the festivities that evening will be a number of former Baltimore Colts teammates of Johnny Unitas, along with NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr.
Proceeds from the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Awards help to support the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation. The Foundation provides financial assistance to underprivileged and deserving young scholar-athletes throughout Maryland and Kentucky.
Other sponsors of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award include Baltimore's Tremonts, Black & Decker, Century Engineering, Comcast On-Demand, Dunbar Armored, First Mariner Bank, MedStar Union Memorial Sports Medicine, MyAdBox, R2i.ntegrated, Southwest Airlines, Sports Legends Museum, and Weiss PR Associates, Inc.
For more information, visit www.goldenarmfoundation.com.
Penn State hits the road the next two weeks, visiting Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 24. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET and the game will be regionally televised by ABC (ESPN outside ABC coverage area) and heard on the Penn State Sports Network and www.GoPSUsports.com.