August 20, 2002
Texas A&M senior quarterback Mark Farris was included on the 2002 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award watch list,which was released by the Davey O'Brien Foundation on Tuesday. The Award is given annually to the nation's top collegiate quarterback.
Farris is entering his third season as the starting quarterback at Texas A&M and he is on pace to set the school record in career completions, pass attempts, completion percentage and passing yardage. Farris is the only quarterback in school history with consecutive 200 completion seasons and is one of just two A&M signal-callers with consecutive 2,000-yard passing seasons to his credit.
The 27-year old Farris originally signed to play football with Texas A&M in 1994, but opted to sign a baseball contract after being drafted in the first round (No. 11 overall) by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Farris advanced as high as the Double-A level, batting .273 with 102 hits, 18 doubles, 6 homeruns and 38 RBI in 111 games with the Carolina Mudcats in 1998. He returned to the gridiron with the Aggies in 1999.
Farris is the fourth Aggie to be named to a 2002 preseason watch list for a national award. The others are: senior cornerback Sammy Davis and senior outside linebacker Jarrod Penright on the Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Year Trophy watch list, and senior defensive end Ty Warren on the Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award lists.