Justin Fields headlined a group of 30 players that made the cut for the Davey O’Brien Award watch list Tuesday, the trophy presented to college football’s most outstanding quarterback.

Entering his second year as the starter under center for the Buckeyes, Fields will try to improve upon a 2019 season that landed him in New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist. Fields finished fourth in the voting, but many oddsmakers list him as the favorite alongside Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence to take him the award this season.

Fields tallied 51 total touchdowns a season ago, the second-most in Ohio State history, with 41 through the air and an additional 10 on the ground. Fields threw just three interceptions and completed better than 67 percent of his passes.

Since its inaugural season in 1981, the Davey O’Brien Award has been given to an Ohio State quarterback on only one occasion, when Troy Smith led the Buckeyes to a national title berth during a Heisman Trophy winning campaign in 2006.

In the past three seasons, the winner of the Davey O’Brien Award has also won the Heisman Trophy, though it is not always the case. Former Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson won the award back to back in 2015 and ’16, but didn’t take home the Heisman Trophy in either season.

If he goes on to win it, Fields would become just the fifth Big Ten quarterback to win the award, joining Smith, Iowa’s Chuck Long and Brad Banks, as well as Penn State’s Kerry Collins.