With the college football season quickly approaching, news broke today that FAU quarterback Chris Robison is on another preseason watchlist for a national award.

The FAU signal-caller finds himself on the Maxwell Award watch list along with 89 other football players in the country, including four others from Conference USA.

👀 2020 Maxwell Award WATCH LIST 👀

Chris Reynolds – @CharlotteFTBL
Chris Robison – @FAUFootball
Justin Henderson – @LATechFB
Brenden Knox – @HerdFB
Jaelon Darden – @MeanGreenFB#CUSAFB 🏈 | #TheCUSAWay pic.twitter.com/IU8bsQDS1p

— Conference USA (@ConferenceUSA) July 24, 2020

The Maxwell Award is awarded each season to the college football player of the year. The award is voted on by NCAA head football coaches, members of the Maxwell Club, sportswriters and sportscasters from across the country. 

This isn’t the first preseason award watch list that Robison finds himself on heading into the 2020 season. He also appeared on the watch list for the Davey O’Brien award. 

Robison had a record-breaking season for the Owls in 2019. He broke the school record for passing yards in a season with 3,701 and also threw 28 touchdowns and only six interceptions. His redshirt sophomore campaign was a big improvement after his first season under center for the Owls in 2018 where he threw for 2,540 yards with 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. 

One thing to watch for this season is how Robison will handle all the changes on the offensive side of the ball since the end of last season. Not only will he lose the Mackey Award winner from last season, Harrison Bryant, he will also lose three more of his go-to receiving targets from 2019: wide receivers Deangelo Antoine and Tavaris Harrison and tight end John Raine. 

Robison will also have a new head coach this season in Willie Taggart and new offensive coordinators. Drew Mehringer (Co-OC/WR) and Clint Trickett (Co-OC/QB) will take over the coordinator reins from former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. who left for the same position at the University of South Florida. 

With the recent announcement from FAU athletics regarding fall sports officially not starting until at least Sept. 1, there are still some big question marks surrounding the 2020 football season. 

The Owls have already seen their first two games of the season against Minnesota and Stony Brook canceled. The first game currently on FAU’s schedule is Sept. 19 at Georgia Southern.

Despite the cancellations, the FAU football team is still preparing for the start of the 2020 season.  The team posted yesterday via their twitter account that “We’re BACK” along with a video of the team doing drills. 

We’re 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊.

📝 https://t.co/i7e1PvrsoV pic.twitter.com/27INaKDuif

— FAU Football (@FAUFootball) July 23, 2020

While there’s a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the start of the football season for FAU, there is no question that Robison will be the leader of the offense when the season does start.

Jensen Jennings is the sports editor for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @Jensen_Jennings.