courtesy Appalachian Sports InformationPHILADELPHIA — Appalachian State University quarterback Armanti Edwards, the 2008 Walter Payton Award winner, headlines the initial candidates for the 2009 Payton Award, The Sports Network announced on Tuesday.
The Payton Award is presented annually to the nation’s top NCAA Division I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision — formerly Division I-AA) player. In a departure from past years, this year’s official Payton watch list will include 20 candidates, as opposed to 16. Additionally, The Sports Network is spreading the announcement of its official candidates over five weeks, with four names added to the list each week. The full list will be revised in October and November before the final ballot is announced at the end of the regular season.
Last year, Edwards won the award in the landslide, easily out-distancing James Madison quarterback Rodney Landers with 398 total points and 53 first-place votes, compared to 290 points and 17 first-place nods for the JMU signal-caller. In doing so, Edwards became only the sixth underclassman in the 22-year history of the Payton Award to receive the honor. This season, the senior attempts to become the first player to win the award twice.
The consensus first-team All-American and Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year racked up 2,902 passing yards, 941 rushing yards and a SoCon-record 41 touchdowns responsible for (30 passing, 11 rushing) in 2008. He ranked second nationally with a 170.19 pass-efficiency rating, seventh with 3,843 yards of total offense and 58th in rushing. He threw only two interceptions in 224 regular-season pass attempts, with a school-record string of 176 passes without an interception that spanned over two months — eight full games and parts of two others.
For his career, Edwards already owns 12 school and eight conference records, including the ASU and SoCon records for total offense (10,783 yards) and touchdowns responsible (109) in a career. The Mountaineers are 32-5 in games that Edwards has started behind center.
Appalachian is one of only two programs — Montana being the other — to boast winners of the Payton, Buck Buchanan (FCS Defensive Player of the Year) and Eddie Robinson (FCS Coach of the Year) awards.
Mountaineer senior linebacker Jacque Roman (Kingland, Ga./Kingland) and junior defensive back Mark LeGree are leading candidates to be included on the initial Buchanan Award watch list as it is unveiled over the coming weeks.
