NEW ORLEANS – One day after being named the Manning Award Star of the Week, East Carolina senior quarterback Holton Ahlers was officially named to the Manning Award Watch List, according to an announcement by the Allstate Sugar Bowl Friday.

A two-time watch list candidate, Ahlers is the third Pirate since the award’s inception in 2004 to earn inclusion on the list following Dominique Davis (2011) and Shane Carden (2014).

Ahlers, who has led ECU to a 5-3 overall record heading into Friday night’s national broadcast game at BYU, has completed 208-of-297 passes on the year for an American Athletic Conference-best 2,435 yards. He has completed 70 percent of his passes (12th nationally) and has thrown 18 touchdowns while only suffering five interceptions.

This season, the lefthander from Greenville, N.C. has passed for over 300 yards in a game three times with a season-high 465 against South Florida where he threw for six touchdowns in a 48-28 victory in Boca Raton, Fla. Ahlers owns five ECU single game or career records (passing TDs a game/six; passing yards in a game/535; career passing yards/12,654; total yards/14,032 and TD passes/87), while also owning five AAC career records including most completions, passing attempts, passing yards, total plays and total yards.

On the national (FBS) level, Ahlers stans fifth in passing yards, seventh in completions per game (26.0), ninth in passing yards per game (304.4), 10th in points responsible for (136), 12th in passing TDs and 22nd in points responsible for per game (17.0).

Finalists for the honor will be determined by a select panel of national media covering college football, as well as each of the Manning. That list will be released on Thursday, December 1 and the winner is scheduled to be announced following the College Football Playoff National Championship.

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.