ECU Athletic Media Relations

FORT WORTH, Texas — East Carolina senior Shane Carden is one of 16 semifinalists for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award the committee announced Tuesday afternoon.

Carden, who earned O’Brien Co-Quarterback-of-the-Week honors on Sept. 16, has guided the Pirates to a 6-2 overall record and an American Athletic Conference-best 3-1 ledger. The Houston, Texas prep product has passed for a league-high 2,791 yards, completing 63.9 percent of his passes (228 of 357) with 18 TDs. He has also added three ground scores, which ranks second on the team.

A three-time American Conference Offensive Player-of-the-Week selection, Carden already owns ECU career records in completions (888), attempts (1,319), TDs (74), passing yards (10,046) and total offense (10,324), while ranking second behind David Garrard (1,685/1998-2001) in total plays (1,550). He also owns the ECU single-game standard for completions (46/ODU), passing yards (480/Tulane) and TDs accounted for (7/Tulsa), while tying his own mark with five passing scores on three occasions (ODU, Tulsa, UAB).

Carden has engineered a Pirate offense that has racked up 500 yards or more total offense five times, including a school-record 789 yards in a 70-41 win over North Carolina. He is the lone American Conference quarterback with 400-plus yards passing in a league game this season (410/SMU, 445/UConn) and has authored a league-best four 400-yard air efforts.

Nationally, he ranks among the top 10 in completions for 10-plus yards (3rd/121), passing yards per game (3rd/348.9 pg), total offense (3rd/362.0 pg), completions per game (4th/28.50 pg) and total passing yards (6th/2,791).

The semifinalists, in alphabetical order, include: J.T. Barrett  (Ohio State), Trevone Boykin (TCU), Shane Carden (East Carolina), Rakeem Cato (Marshall), Connor Cook (Michigan State), Everett Golson (Notre Dame), Brett Hundley (UCLA), Marcus Mariota (Oregon), Nick Marshall (Auburn), Bryce Petty (Baylor), Dak Prescott (Mississippi State), Blake Sims (Alabama), Clint Trickett (West Virginia), Bo Wallace (Ole Miss), Jake Waters (Kansas State) and Jameis Winston (Florida State).

The group of 2014 semifinalists is heavy on upperclassmen, as it features nine seniors, five juniors, one sophomore and one freshman. The 16 semifinalists’ teams own a combined record of 107-18 (.856) this season.

Schools from eight conference affiliations (AAC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, C-USA, Independents, Pac-12 and SEC) make up the list, with the Big 12 (4) and SEC (4) joining to compose half of the field.

After clearing the first round totals, the Fan Vote at VoteOBrien.org reopens today and will remain open until 1 p.m. (EST) on Sunday, Nov. 23, for the second round of balloting. Fans are invited to cast their vote for the nation’s best college quarterback as often as once daily per email address.

The Fan Vote counts as five percent during each round of the voting process, and is combined with the results from the Davey O’Brien National Selection Committee, which is comprised of journalists, broadcasters, commentators and former winners.

The Davey O’Brien Foundation and the Selection Committee will release the names of the three finalists on Monday, Nov. 24. The 2014 Davey O’Brien winner will be announced live on The Home Depot College Football Awards on Thursday, Dec. 11.