Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss is the favorite for the Davey O’Brien Award at +250 on DraftKings, as ESPN listed the board on September 25, 2026, with Miami’s Darian Mensah next at +320. The winner is announced live on ESPN on Friday, December 11, 2026, and the award goes to the nation’s best college quarterback.
Chambliss and Mensah are the only two quarterbacks shorter than +1000, and between them they hold 52.4% of the implied chance. Notre Dame’s CJ Carr is seventh at +1400.
Davey O’Brien Award odds
| Quarterback | School | DraftKings | Implied chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trinidad Chambliss | Ole Miss | +250 | 28.6% |
| Darian Mensah | Miami | +320 | 23.8% |
| Gunner Stockton | Georgia | +1000 | 9.1% |
| Josh Hoover | Indiana | +1100 | 8.3% |
| Jayden Maiava | USC | +1200 | 7.7% |
| Kamario Taylor | Mississippi State | +1200 | 7.7% |
| CJ Carr | Notre Dame | +1400 | 6.7% |
| Arch Manning | Texas | +1500 | 6.2% |
| Julian Sayin | Ohio State | +1800 | 5.3% |
| Rocco Becht | Penn State | +2200 | 4.3% |
| Lincoln Kienholz | Louisville | +2600 | 3.7% |
| Dante Moore | Oregon | +2700 | 3.6% |
These are the 12 shortest of the 26 prices in ESPN’s 2026-season Davey O’Brien market. The implied chance is 100 divided by the price plus 100, and the 12 shown already add up to 115% because the book’s margin is built in.
Two names near the top were not on the award’s 30-man preseason watch list in August: Kamario Taylor and Lincoln Kienholz. The midseason list on November 3 can add quarterbacks who have played their way in, so neither is shut out.
How to read the board
We do not make a pick on an award market. What the table does is turn each price into the chance the book is asking you to believe: Chambliss has to win it 28.6% of the time for +250 to pay back what it costs.
A bet is worth making only when you rate a quarterback’s chance higher than that number. The finalists are not named until November 24, so the prices will keep moving, and our Heisman Trophy odds page tracks the same quarterbacks in the wider race.
The 2026 Davey O’Brien Award calendar
| Date | Step |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, November 3 | Midseason watch list |
| Tuesday, November 10 | QB Class of 2026 announced; fan voting opens |
| Tuesday, November 17 | Semifinalists named |
| Tuesday, November 24 | Three finalists named |
| Friday, December 11 | Winner announced on ESPN |
| Monday, March 8, 2027 | 50th Davey O’Brien Awards Dinner, Fort Worth |
Fan voting on social media earns players bonus votes from the selection committee in the semifinal, final and winner rounds, according to the Davey O’Brien Foundation. The 2026 season is the award’s 50th anniversary.
The last winner
Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza won the 2025 award, the first Hoosier to do it. He completed 273 of 379 passes for 3,535 yards and 41 touchdowns with six interceptions, and ran for seven more scores, as Indiana went 16-0 and won its first national championship.
Miami’s Cam Ward won it the year before, which made Mendoza the second straight winner in his first season with a new team after a transfer. Two of the three 2025 finalists are back: Marcel Reed of Texas A&M and Julian Sayin of Ohio State.
Where to go next
Every college football game we call is on our NCAAF predictions hub. The other award races are on our Doak Walker Award and Biletnikoff Award pages, and the team races on our national championship odds page.
The conference races are on our SEC odds page and Big Ten odds page. For paid college football picks, compare the handicappers on PicksToday first.