Walter Payton Award


The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision of college football as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports information directors. The honor was first given 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 the late National Football League legend Walter Payton, who starred at Jackson State University in the early 1970s.
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 and Villanova 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, followed in 2017 by Jeremiah Briscoe from Sam Houston State.
The most recent winner, Trey Lance of North Dakota State in 2019, is the first freshman ever to receive the award.
is the first of two two-time winners of the award.

Winners

Past finalists