MANHATTAN, Kan. – For the second time in as many seasons, Kansas State senior quarterback Skylar Thompson has earned a spot on the watch list for the Manning Award, the Allstate Sugar Bowl announced Thursday.

The Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that includes the candidates’ bowl performances in its balloting.

Aside from Thompson, other previous Wildcats up for the award include 2012 finalist Collin Klein and 2014 preseason candidate Jake Waters.

Thompson, who was injured in the third game of 2020 and out for the remainder of the season, is a career 30-game starter who ranks in the top 10 in school history of 15 career categories. He is just the second player in school history to throw for 5,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards – joining Ell Roberson – and with 979 more passing yards this year he can become the first to hit the 6,000/1,000 marks.

Thompson’s inclusion on the watch list for the Manning Award is his third of the preseason as he was also on the initial watch lists for the Maxwell Award and Wuerffel Trophy.

A product of Independence, Missouri, Thompson leads an experienced offense entering 2021 that returns 28 letterwinners and 11 players that made at least four starts in 2020. The Wildcats bring back every start along the offensive line from a year ago, 97.1% of its passing yardage and 78.4% of its rushing yardage.

The Wildcats report to preseason camp on Thursday prior to their practice on Friday. K-State will open the doors to Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday for fans to watch the final 45 minutes of practice.

K-State’s 2021 campaign opens on Saturday, September 4 in the Allstate Kickoff Classic against Stanford inside AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The game will be televised by FS1 and kicks off at 11 a.m. Fans can purchase tickets to the game – in addition to season and single-game tickets for the Wildcats’ seven-game home schedule – by visiting www.kstatesports.com/tickets or by calling 1-800-221-CATS.