Walter Payton Award

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Infobox sports award The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The honor was first given Template:Time 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 award was named in honor of National Football League (NFL) legend Walter Payton, who starred at Jackson State University in the early 1970s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Up until presentations for the 2014 season, the Payton and Buchanan Awards were awarded by The Sports Network. Since STATS LLC, now known as Stats Perform, acquired The Sports Network in February 2015, it has presented all of the major FCS awards.

The most recent winner of the award is Tommy Mellott, a quarterback from Montana State who earned the honor during the 2024 season.

The award was named to honor college and NFL star Walter Payton

Armanti Edwards was the first player to win the award more than once (2008, 2009).

Winners

Year	Winner	School	Position	Template:Abbr
1987	Template:Sortname	Colgate	RB	<ref name=WPA19872014>Template:Cite news</ref>
1988	Template:Sortname	Towson State	RB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1989	Template:Sortname	Idaho	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1990	Template:Sortname	Grambling	RB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1991	Template:Sortname	Weber State	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1992	Template:Sortname	Marshall	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1993	Template:Sortname	Idaho	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1994	Template:Sortname	Alcorn State	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1995	Template:Sortname	Montana	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1996	Template:Sortname	Northern Arizona	RB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1997	Template:Sortname	Villanova	WR	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1998	Template:Sortname	New Hampshire	RB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
1999	Template:Sortname	Georgia Southern	RB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2000	Template:Sortname	Furman	RB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2001	Template:Sortname	Villanova	RB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2002	Template:Sortname	Eastern Illinois	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2003	Template:Sortname	Colgate	RB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2004	Template:Sortname	William & Mary	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2005	Template:Sortname	Eastern Washington	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2006	Template:Sortname	New Hampshire	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2007	Template:Sortname	Georgia Southern	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2008	Template:Sortname	Appalachian State	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2009
2010	Template:Sortname	Stephen F. Austin	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2011	Template:Sortname	Eastern Washington	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2012	Template:Sortname	Old Dominion	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2013	Template:Sortname	Eastern Illinois	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2014	Template:Sortname	Villanova	QB	<ref name=WPA19872014/>
2015	Template:Sortname	Eastern Washington	WR	<ref name=WPA2015to2023>Template:Cite news</ref>
2016	Template:Sortname	Sam Houston State	QB	<ref name=WPA2015to2023/>
2017
2018	Template:Sortname	Samford	QB	<ref name=WPA2015to2023/>
2019	Template:Sortname	North Dakota State	QB	<ref name=WPA2015to2023/>
2020	Template:Sortname	Southeastern Louisiana	QB	<ref name=WPA2015to2023/>
2021	Template:Sortname	Eastern Washington	QB	<ref name=WPA2015to2023/>
2022	Template:Sortname	Incarnate Word	QB	<ref name=WPA2015to2023/>
2023	Mark Gronowski	South Dakota State	QB	<ref name=WPA2015to2023/>
2024	Tommy Mellott	Montana State	QB	<ref name=WPA2015to2023/>

Awards won by school

This is a list of the colleges and universities who have had a player win a Walter Payton Award. Among the many schools in the division, only nine have claimed more than one award, and only seven have had more than one player win the award. Eastern Washington has had four players win the award, Villanova has had three players win the award, and five have had two players win: Colgate, Georgia Southern, Idaho, New Hampshire, and Eastern Illinois. Two players have won the award twice, with both being the only players from their institutions to win. In 2009, Armanti Edwards from Appalachian State became the first to receive the award twice,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> followed in 2017 by Jeremiah Briscoe from Sam Houston State.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn In 2019, Trey Lance of North Dakota State was the first freshman to receive the award.<ref name=2K19>Template:Cite news</ref>

School	Awards
Eastern Washington	4
Villanova	3
Appalachian State^	2
Colgate
Eastern Illinois
Georgia Southern^
Idaho
New Hampshire
Sam Houston^
Alcorn State	1
Furman
Grambling
Incarnate Word
Marshall^
Montana
Montana State
North Dakota State
Northern Arizona
North Dakota State
Old Dominion^
Samford
South Dakota State
Southeastern Louisiana
Stephen F. Austin
Towson
Weber State
William & Mary

^ Team is now a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

References

Informational notes Template:Notelist

Citations Template:Reflist