Ball State QB named to watch list

Nate Davis (Bellaire, Ohio/Bellaire H.S.), who will be a junior quarterback on the Ball State University football team this fall, has been named to the Maxwell Award Watch List, which goes to the most outstanding collegiate football player in the country.

An All-Mid-American Conference Second-Team selection last season, Nate Davis ranks third in Ball State history with 5,642 career passing yards. He owns the Ball State record for career touchdown passes with 48, and owns the school career record with 12 games of 250 or more yards passing.

Davis started all 13 games at quarterback in 2007 and set the Ball State single-season record with 3,667 passing yards. He attempted a school standard 478 passes and completed a school record 270 passes. His 30 touchdown passes in 2007 set the Ball State single-season record, shattering the previous mark of 18 set by Joey Lynch in 2005 and tied by Davis in 2006.

The Maxwell Award has been presented to the outstanding collegiate football player in the country since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert W. "Tiny" Maxwell. Semifinalists for the award will be announced in early November and the three finalists will be selected Nov. 25. The Watch List includes 75 student-athletes and is selected by the Maxwell Football Club's Selection Committee, which includes all the club's members, sports information directors and collegiate head football coaches along with selected national media members.

Davis joins teammates Robert Brewster (Cincinnati, Ohio/Wyoming H.S., and Chris Miller (Libertyville, Ill./Carmel H.S.) as Ball State student-athletes on national award watch lists for the 2008 season. Brewster is a candidate for the Outland Trophy, which goes to the nation's best interior lineman, while Miller is a candidate for the Ray Guy Award, which is presented to the country's top collegiate punter.

Ball State will open the 2008 season Aug. 28, with a 7 p.m., home contest vs. Northeastern at Scheumann Stadium. The Cardinals will host Navy Sept. 5, at 7 p.m., in a game televised nationally on ESPN.