UW-River Falls' Blaha Named A Manning Award Finalist

Official Manning Award Release

**Release courtesy of UW-River Falls Sports Information

NEW ORLEANS--The 2025 Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, has expanded its finalist list by five players who had outstanding postseason performances, including Kaleb Blaha of UW-River Falls, announced on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.

The original 10 finalists were announced on Dec. 4 prior to postseason games. The winner will be announced after the College Football Playoff National Championship on January 19. 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 takes the candidates' bowl and playoff performances into consideration in its balloting.

The newly added finalists are:

Name, Class, School

Carson Beck, Sr., Miami

Kaleb Blaha, Sr., UW-River Falls

Trinidad Chambliss, Sr., Ole Miss

Arch Manning, So., Texas

The original finalists for this year's Manning Award were:

Name, Class, School

CJ Carr, RFr., Notre Dame

Haynes King, RSr., Georgia Tech

Fernando Mendoza, RJr., Indiana

Drew Mestemaker, RFr., North Texas

Dante Moore, RSo., Oregon

Diego Pavia, Gr., Vanderbilt

Marcel Reed, RSo., Texas A&M

Julian Sayin, So., Ohio State

Ty Simpson, RJr., Alabama

Gunner Stockton, RJr., Georgia

"We had a great list of finalists that we announced at the start of December," said Archie Manning. "But we are the only quarterback award that takes the postseason into account. Based on that, and some outstanding performances in bowl games and playoff games, we felt it made sense to add these five young men to our list of finalists."

Kaleb Blaha becomes the first NCAA Division III player to be named a Manning Award finalist, after leading UW-River Falls to its first national championship in program history, defeating North Central College in the Stagg Bowl by a score of 24-14 on Jan. 4 in Canton, Ohio. During the win, Blaha combined for 419 yards of total offense to break a college football single-season record with 6,189 yards of total offense, passing Joe Burrow's record set at LSU in 2019. He rushed for two touchdowns and added another through the air and was named the Stagg Bowl MVP.

The 2025 Gagliardi Trophy winner for the most outstanding player in Division III, Blaha was also named the D3football.com Offensive Player of the Year, the Associated Press Player of the Year, the WIAC Offensive Player of the Year and received First Team All-America honors from D3football.com, AFCA, AP, and the Walter Camp Foundation.

UW-River Falls completed its historic season with a 14-1 overall record, going 9-0 at Ramer Field.

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