The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award® along with presenting sponsor A. O. Smith Corporation announce the 2023 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Watch List Week 1 Stats. Candidates are chosen based on player performance on and off the field. Candidates are judged on their character, citizenship, scholastic achievement, teamwork and leadership qualities.
| NAME | SCHOOL | GAMES | COMPLETIONS | ATTEMPTS | % | YARDS PASSING | TD PASSING | TD RUSHING | TD RECEIVING | INT | YARDS RUSHING | SCORE | RECORD | CONFERENCE | NEXT |
| Brennan Armstrong | NC State | 1 | 17 | 26 | 65% | 155 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 96 | W 24-14 UConn | 1-0 | ACC | Notre Dame 9/9 |
| Carter Bradley | South Alabama | 1 | 23 | 30 | 77% | 190 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -11 | L 37-17 Tulane | 0-1 | Sun Belt | SE Louisiana 9/9 |
| Hudson Card | Purdue | 1 | 17 | 30 | 57% | 254 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | W 39-35 Fresno State | 1-0 | Big Ten | at Virginia Tech 9/9 |
| Chevan Cordero | San Jose State | 2 | 39 | 70 | 56% | 341 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 78 | L 56-28 USC (8/26); L 42-17 Oregon State (9/3) | 0-2 | Mountain West | Cal Poly 9/9 |
| Jalon Daniels | Kansas | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | W 48-17 Missouri State DNP (injury) | 1-0 | Big 12 | Illinois 9/8 |
| Jayden Daniels | LSU | 1 | 22 | 37 | 60% | 347 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 64 | L 45-24 Florida State | 0-1 | SEC | Grambling 9/9 |
| Jaxson Dart | Ole Miss | 1 | 18 | 23 | 78% | 334 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | W 73-7 Mercer | 1-0 | SEC | at Tulane 9/9 |
| Quinn Ewers | Texas | 1 | 19 | 30 | 63% | 260 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | W 37-10 Rice | 1-0 | Big 12 | at Alabama 9/9 |
| Dillon Gabriel | Oklahoma | 1 | 19 | 22 | 86% | 308 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | W 73-0 Arkansas State | 1-0 | Big 12 | SMU 9/9 |
| Mitch Griffis | Wake Forest | 1 | 19 | 30 | 63% | 329 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -6 | W 37-17 Elon | 1-0 | ACC | Vanderbilt 9/9 |
| Frank Harris | UTSA | 1 | 18 | 36 | 50% | 209 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 45 | L 17-14 Houston | 0-1 | American | Texas State 9/9 |
| Sam Hartman | Notre Dame | 2 | 33 | 40 | 83% | 445 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | W 42-3 Navy (8/26); W 56-3 Tennessee State (9/2) | 2-0 | Independent | @ NC State 9/9 |
| Seth Henigan | Memphis | 1 | 27 | 36 | 75% | 334 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | W 56-14 Bethune-Cookman | 1-0 | American | Arkansas State 9/9 |
| Will Howard | Kansas State | 1 | 18 | 26 | 69% | 297 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | W 45-0 Southeast Missouri State | 1-0 | Big 12 | Troy 9/9 |
| KJ Jefferson | Arkansas | 1 | 18 | 23 | 78% | 246 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | W 56-13 Western Carolina | 1-0 | SEC | Kent State 9/9 |
| Phil Jurkovec | Pitt | 1 | 17 | 23 | 74% | 214 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 41 | W 45-7 Wofford | 1-0 | ACC | Cincinnati 9/9 |
| Devin Leary | Kentucky | 1 | 18 | 31 | 58% | 241 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -5 | W 44-14 Ball State | 1-0 | SEC | Eastern Kentucky 9/9 |
| Riley Leonard | Duke | 1 | 17 | 33 | 52% | 175 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 98 | W 28-7 Clemson | 1-0 | ACC | Lafayette 9/9 |
| Drake Maye | North Carolina | 1 | 24 | 32 | 75% | 269 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 25 | W 31-17 South Carolina | 1-0 | ACC | Appalachian State 9/9 |
| Grayson McCall | Coastal Carolina | 1 | 27 | 42 | 64% | 271 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -8 | L 27-13 UCLA | 0-1 | Sun Belt | Jacksonville State 9/9 |
| J.J. McCarthy | Michigan | 1 | 26 | 30 | 87% | 280 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | W 30-3 East Carolina | 1-0 | Big Ten | UNLV 9/9 |
| Cade McNamara | Iowa | 1 | 17 | 30 | 57% | 191 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -9 | W 24-14 Utah State | 1-0 | Big Ten | at Iowa State 9/9 |
| Graham Mertz | Florida | 1 | 31 | 44 | 71% | 333 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -29 | L 24-11 Utah | 0-1 | SEC | McNeese 9/9 |
| Joe Milton III | Tennessee | 1 | 21 | 30 | 70% | 201 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 33 | W 49-13 Virginia | 1-0 | SEC | Austin Peay 9/9 |
| Tanner Mordecai | Wisconsin | 1 | 24 | 31 | 77% | 189 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | W 38-17 Buffalo | 1-0 | Big Ten | at Washington State 9/9 |
| Bo Nix | Oregon | 1 | 23 | 27 | 85% | 287 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | W 81-7 Portland State | 1-0 | Pac-12 | at Texas Tech 9/9 |
| Michael Penix Jr. | Washington | 1 | 29 | 40 | 73% | 450 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | W 56-19 Boise State | 1-0 | Pac-12 | Tulsa 9/9 |
| Michael Pratt | Tulane | 1 | 14 | 15 | 93% | 294 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | W 37-17 South Alabama | 1-0 | American | Ole Miss 9/9 |
| Spencer Rattler | South Carolina | 1 | 30 | 39 | 77% | 353 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -22 | L 31-17 North Carolina | 0-1 | SEC | Furman 9/9 |
| Austin Reed | Western Kentucky | 1 | 29 | 50 | 58% | 336 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | W 41-24 South Florida | 1-0 | Conference USA | Houston Christian 9/9 |
| Cam Rising | Utah | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | W 24-11 Florida; DNP (injury) | 1-0 | Pac-12 | at Baylor 9/9 |
| Will Rogers | Mississippi State | 1 | 20 | 29 | 69% | 227 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -7 | W 48-7 SE Louisiana | 1-0 | SEC | Arizona 9/9 |
| Kurtis Rourke | Ohio | 1 | 8 | 10 | 80% | 75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -10 | L 20-13 San Diego State (8/26); W 27-10 Long Island (9/2) DNP (injury) | 1-1 | MAC | @ Florida Atlantic 9/9 |
| Blake Shapen | Baylor | 1 | 21 | 31 | 68% | 303 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -2 | L 42-31 Texas State | 0-1 | Big 12 | Utah 9/9 |
| Garrett Shrader | Syracuse | 1 | 18 | 24 | 75% | 257 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 40 | W 65-0 Colgate | 1-0 | ACC | Western Michigan 9/9 |
| Kedon Slovis | BYU | 1 | 20 | 33 | 61% | 145 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -2 | W 14-0 Sam Houston | 1-0 | Big 12 | Southern Utah 9/9 |
| Donovan Smith | Houston | 1 | 22 | 34 | 65% | 233 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | W 17-14 UTSA | 1-0 | Big 12 | at Rice 9/9 |
| Cole Snyder | Buffalo | 1 | 26 | 41 | 63% | 194 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | L 38-17 Wisconsin | 0-1 | MAC | Fordham 9/9 |
| Taulia Tagovailoa | Maryland | 1 | 22 | 33 | 67% | 260 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 28 | W 38-6 Towson | 1-0 | Big Ten | Charlotte 9/9 |
| Casey Thompson | Florida Atlantic | 1 | 20 | 25 | 80% | 280 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 18 | W 42-20 Monmouth | 1-0 | American | Ohio 9/9 |
| Payton Thorne | Auburn | 1 | 10 | 17 | 59% | 141 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | W 59-14 UMass | 1-0 | SEC | at Cal 9/9 |
| Jordan Travis | Florida State | 1 | 23 | 31 | 74% | 342 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 38 | W 45-24 LSU | 1-0 | ACC | Southern Miss 9/9 |
| D.J. Uiagelelei | Oregon State | 1 | 20 | 25 | 80% | 239 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | W 42-17 San Jose State | 1-0 | Pac-12 | UC Davis 9/9 |
| Tyler Van Dyke | Miami | 1 | 17 | 22 | 77% | 201 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | W 38-3 Miami (OH) | 1-0 | ACC | Texas A&M 9/9 |
| Cameron Ward | Washington State | 1 | 37 | 49 | 76% | 451 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 40 | W 50-24 Colorado State | 1-0 | Pac-12 | Wisconsin 9/9 |
| Grant Wells | Virginia Tech | 1 | 17 | 29 | 59% | 251 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | W 37-17 Old Dominion | 1-0 | ACC | Purdue 9/9 |
| Caleb Williams | USC | 2 | 36 | 49 | 74% | 597 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | W 56-28 San Jose State (8/26); W 66-14 Nevada (9/2) | 2-0 | Pac-12 | Stanford 9/9 |