Walter Payton Award

Walter Payton Award
Walter Payton Award
Awarded for	"Most outstanding offensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision"
Country	United States
Presented by	STATS LLC
First awarded	1987, 30 years ago
Currently held by	Jeremiah Briscoe, QB Sam Houston State
Official website	www.fcs.football

The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports information directors. The honor was first given 30 years ago in 1987 to the outstanding player in the division, but in 1995, eligibility was restricted to offensive players, as the Buck Buchanan Award for defensive players was inaugurated.

The bust was named in honor of the late National Football League (NFL) legend Walter Payton, who starred at Jackson State University in the early 1970s.

Among the many schools in the division, only eight have multiple winners. Eastern Washington and Villanova have won it three times, and six have won it twice: Appalachian State, Colgate, Georgia Southern, Idaho, New Hampshire, and Eastern Illinois. In 2009, Armanti Edwards from Appalachian State became the first to receive the award twice.

†No longer a member of FCS
‡ Not a current FCS member, but will return to FCS in 2018