Owen McCown earns spot on Maxwell list

Published 10:27 pm Monday, July 28, 2025

UTSA redshirt junior quarterback Owen McCown, of Rusk, has earned a spot on the Maxwell Award Watch List, the Maxwell Football Club announced on Monday.

McCown is one of 80 FBS players selected to the watch list for the 89th Maxwell Award, which is presented annually to the outstanding player in college football. He is one of three players from the American Conference on the watch list, joining Blake Horvath of Navy and Caden Veltkamp of Florida Atlantic.

A product of Rusk High School, McCown started all 13 games last year and completed 294 of 467 passes for 3,424 yards and 25 touchdowns. He also rushed for 340 yards and three TDs to tally 3,764 yards of total offense. The left-hander logged four 300-yard passing games, including a school-record 434 yards and four touchdowns against Tulsa, and topped the 200-yard mark in seven additional contests.

McCown opened the 2024 season by throwing for 340 yards and three scores on 28-of-38 passing in the 28-16 victory over Kennesaw State and was named Manning Award QB of the Week. He landed on the Davey O’Brien Great 8 list after completing 20 of 37 passes for 280 yards and four TDs in the 44-36 win over No. 25 Memphis. He racked up 379 yards and two touchdowns on 29-of-43 passing and added 88 rushing yards to help UTSA tally a school-record 681 yards of offense in the 48-27 win versus North Texas, earning a spot on the Davey O’Brien Great 9 and Manning Award Stars of the Week list. He completed 20 of 27 passes for 220 yards and a TD and added a 75-yard rushing touchdown — the longest by any Roadrunner quarterback — in the 51-27 home triumph over Temple.

The son of former NFL quarterback Josh McCown closed the campaign by passing for 254 yards and a TD and dashing for a 35-yard score on the ground in the 44-15 victory over Coastal Carolina in the Myrtle Beach Bowl en route to being named the game’s MVP.

The Maxwell Award has been presented to the College Player of the Year since 1937 and is named in honor of Robert “Tiny” Maxwell who was a former standout at Swarthmore College and a renowned sportswriter and football official.

The Maxwell Football Club has once again partnered with Pro Football Focus (PFF) and Phil Steele Publications as selection committee partners. PFF provides detailed metrics and performance-based assessments to selection committee staff, with several senior PFF analysts are members of our selection committee. Phil Steele’s College Football Preview is generally recognized as the most complete preseason magazine.

Semifinalists for the Maxwell Award will be announced Nov. 11, while the three finalists for the Maxwell Award will be unveiled Nov. 25. The winner of the 89th Maxwell Award will be announced as part of the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on Dec. 11. The formal presentations of the Maxwell Award will be made at the Maxwell Football Club Awards on March 13, 2026, in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Maxwell Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA), which encompasses college football’s most prestigious awards. The NCFAA’s 25 awards have honored more than 900 recipients since 1935. This season, 12 NCFAA awards will honor national players of the week each Tuesday.

UTSA will kick off its 15th season of football and sixth year under head coach Jeff Traylor, of Gilmer, against Texas A&M at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 30, in what will be a national televised matchup on ESPN live from Kyle Field in College Station.

The Roadrunners then will return home to host back-to-back games at the Alamodome in San Antonio where they boast a 29-3 record in the Jeff Traylor era, tied for the third-most home victories among FBS teams since 2020. UTSA will face Texas State in the Battle for I-35 at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6, before they match up with crosstown foe UIW at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13.

UTSA has four league games on the home slate with Rice (Oct. 11), Tulane (Oct. 30), East Carolina (Nov. 22) and Army (Nov. 28 or 29) scheduled to visit the Alamodome.