Washington State quarterback Guarantano named to Golden Arm Award watch list

Washington State’s Jarrett Guarantano was named Thursday to the watch list for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, presented annually to the top upperclassman quarterback in college football.

The grad transfer from Tennessee landed on the same list last season, when he threw for 1,112 yards and six touchdowns against four picks for the Volunteers, adding four rushing scores in seven games.

The New Jersey native was a four-year letter winner with the Volunteers, starting 32 games in that span. Guarantano passed for 6,174 yards and 38 touchdowns on a 61.1% completion rate at Tennessee and was one of just three Vols quarterbacks to throw for over 400 yards in a single game.

Guarantano is in a tightly contested quarterback competition at WSU with sophomore Jayden de Laura and junior Cammon Cooper.

Guarantano earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2019. He’s pursuing a master’s at WSU.

Former Coug Gardner Minshew, now with the Jacksonville Jaguars, won the award in 2018 and Luke Falk was a finalist in 2016.

Guarantano is one of 31 QBs to be named to the list. Four other Pac-12 quarterbacks were selected – Arizona State’s Jayden Daniels, UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Washington’s Dylan Morris and Oregon’s Anthony Brown.

This season’s winner will be named Dec. 10 during a banquet in Baltimore.

A committee made up of journalists, commentators and former players selects the recipient.