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Micah Alejado, Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and USC’s Jayden Maiava named to 2026 Manning Award watch list
The Apex Times

THE APEX TIMES

Sports/The Apex Times/Aug 25, 4:34 PM EDT

Micah Alejado, Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and USC’s Jayden Maiava named to 2026 Manning Award watch list

The preseason watch list for college football’s top quarterback honor includes Hawaii’s Micah Alejado, plus two high-profile quarterback prospects tied to California and Southern California.

By The Apex Times Newsroom3 min readAI-assisted Apex article

The 2026 Manning Award watch list includes three quarterbacks connected to the West, including University of Hawaii starter Micah Alejado, Cal alumnus Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, and USC’s Jayden Maiava. The announcement Monday set the stage for a season-long spotlight on quarterback play, with 40 players making the initial group for the award that recognizes the nation’s top collegiate passer.

The Manning Award is selected through a voting panel that includes national media members and representatives of the Mannings. While watch lists are not promises of finalists, they do report which quarterbacks are considered preseason front-runners, usually based on prior production, role on their teams, and expectations entering the year.

Alejado represents Hawaii on the list, continuing a recent run of quarterback attention on teams outside the traditional Power Five focus. For Alejado, the watch list is a marker of national visibility, and it places the Hawaii offense in the frame of an award that typically follows quarterbacks who can combine efficiency with big-game production.

Sagapolutele’s inclusion is notable for how the watch list connects schools across the quarterback pipeline. The Yahoo Sports report lists him as a Hawaii high school alumnus who is now associated with Cal, reflecting how the Manning Award process tracks talent from high school all the way through the collegiate ranks.

Maiava brings a USC storyline into the group. As one of the country’s most prominent quarterback programs, USC’s presence on the watch list is both a recruiting and performance report, and it underscores how the Manning Award seeks quarterbacks who can handle national expectations while playing within an offense designed to produce highlight-level passing.

A total of 40 players were placed on the watch list for 2026, according to the Yahoo Sports report. That number matters because it sets a relatively narrow early pool for an award that is ultimately narrowed again as the season progresses, with quarterback performance and consistency becoming the primary differentiators as the year unfolds.

As teams begin settling into their roles during the early season, the most meaningful question for the players on this list will be whether their teams can sustain offensive tempo and quarterback efficiency against a full slate of conference opponents. For Alejado, the focus will likely be on translating national attention into statistical and game-management credibility. For Sagapolutele and Maiava, the test is whether their preseason positioning survives against the defenses that tend to tighten hardest in November.

The 2026 Manning Award watch list also serves as an early map for what kinds of quarterbacks the broader college football media landscape is paying attention to. Over the coming months, watch-list inclusion should be treated as an invitation rather than a prediction, and the separation between 40 names will come through production, leadership, and how each quarterback performs when games become higher stakes.

Why It Matters

  • The watch list gives these quarterbacks early national visibility and frames their seasons as potential marquee award résumés.
  • Inclusion of Hawaii and two major California-area programs highlights how the award’s early conversation is not limited to only the most traditional award-heavy conferences.
  • For teams, a Manning Award watch-list quarterback often becomes a focal point for offensive planning and public perception as the year progresses.
  • As the list narrows later in the season, these names will be benchmarks for consistency, decision-making, and late-game passing production.

Sources

Key Facts

  • Micah Alejado of the University of Hawaii was named to the 2026 Manning Award watch list.
  • Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, identified in the report as a Hawaii high school alumni and associated with Cal, was also named to the watch list.
  • Jayden Maiava of USC was named to the 2026 Manning Award watch list.
  • The Manning Award honors the nation’s top collegiate quarterback.
  • The award is determined by a voting panel that includes national media members and the Mannings.
  • A total of 40 players were named to the 2026 watch list.