Stanford quarterback Davis Warren has been named a semifinalist for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award, adding another national nod to a career defined by resilience, leadership, and a steady presence on and off the field.
The award, presented by Albertsons and Tom Thumb, is the first college football honor built primarily around a player’s leadership. Warren’s case fits that frame well.
Away from football, he has become a strong advocate for cancer patients, forming lasting bonds with young patients and their families through consistent hospital visits. At Stanford, he has carried that work forward by organizing trips to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and leaning on his own story to encourage children dealing with serious health challenges.
Warren’s path to Stanford has been anything but ordinary. As a junior at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
He went through four rounds of chemotherapy, and his body responded positively enough that a bone marrow transplant was not needed. He then reclassified to the Class of 2021 and finished his high school football career at the Peddie School in New Jersey.
That comeback eventually brought him to Michigan, where former Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football Jim Harbaugh spotted him and offered him a walk-on opportunity. Warren accepted instead of heading to a smaller school, made his college debut as a sophomore in 2022, and appeared in eight games over the 2022-23 seasons.
After Michigan’s 2023 National Championship, Warren won the starting quarterback job over Alex Orji in 2024. He started nine games that season, passed for 1,199 yards, and threw seven touchdowns before tearing his ACL in the team’s 2024 ReliaQuest Bowl win over Alabama. He missed the 2025 season and transferred to Stanford in the winter.
Since arriving on The Farm, Warren has done a clean job protecting the football. He opened the year with 167 pass attempts before his first interception, the longest streak in FBS and one that tied a Stanford record for most pass attempts without an interception to start a season.
Davis Mills also did it in 2020. Warren now leads the ACC in passing attempts with 234 and has thrown only two interceptions.
That efficiency has put him in rare company nationally. Warren is one of just nine FBS quarterbacks with at least 200 passing attempts and two or fewer interceptions. He also ranks sixth in the ACC with 1,630 passing yards and is coming off a game against Elon in which he set a career high with 27 completions and posted his best completion percentage as a Cardinal at 69.2%.
Three finalists for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award will be announced Tuesday, Dec. 15, and the winner will be revealed at the award ceremony at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on March 11, 2027.
Stanford returns to action Friday, Oct. 23, against NC State at Stanford Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m., and the game will air on ESPN with Anish Shroff, Andre Ware, and Morgan Uber on the call.
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Stanford QB Davis Warren Carries A Perspective Few Fans Knew
Davis Warrens path to Stanford has already been defined by more than football. The sixth-year senior quarterback battled acute myeloid leukemia in high school, then kept pushing his career forward through treatment, a stop at Michigan and an ACL injury before landing with the Cardinal, where he has started every game this season.
Warren has been open about his experience in hopes of helping others facing similar obstacles, and he says the perspective he gained from illness carries into how he plays and prepares. For Stanford, it has meant more than just a steady hand at quarterback. It has meant a leader whose story gives every snap a different kind of weight. [Read more 🡒]