• Sports Network Release
The results of the voting for the Walter Payton Award were announced on Wednesday. The award is given by the Sports Network to the top player in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
Eastern Illinois junior wide receiver
Erik Lora finished fourth in the voting, the highest finish for an OVC player since Tony Romo won the award in 2002. In addition Murray State senior quarterback
Casey Brockman was sixth, Eastern Illinois junior quarterback
Jimmy Garoppolo was 10th and Eastern Kentucky senior running back
Matt Denham was 19th.
The OVC was the only FCS conference to place three players in the top 10 of the final voting. It marks the first time the OVC has had four players receive votes in the same year of balloting (the previous high was three in the 2001 season).
Old Dominion quarterback Taylor Heinicke was announced as the winner at the Sports Network FCS Awards Banquet on Dec. 17 in Philadelphia.
Also presented that night will be the Buck Buchanan Award (FCS outstanding defensive player), Jerry Rice Award (FCS freshman of the year) and Eddie Robinson Award (FCS coach of the year).
A national panel of 145 sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries voted on the award winner.
Lora compiled seven first-place votes, 14 second-place votes, 15 third-place votes, seven fourth-place votes and 14 fifth-place votes to finish fourth (164 total points) and narrowly miss getting invited to the FCS Award Banquet. Lora earned OVC Offensive Player of the Year honors following his record setting season. Lora finished the year with 136 receptions which broke the previous FCS record of 123. He finished with 1,664 yards which is the fourth-highest single season total in FCS history. Along the way Lora set the school record for receptions and receiving yards in a game along with the OVC record for receptions in a game (21). Lora had seven games with double figure receptions and two more with nine catches as he averaged 11.3 catches per game, the fourth-best single season average in FCS history. Lora opened the year with seven straight 100-yard receiving games, the most by an FCS receiver since 2000. He finished with nine 100-yard receiving games.
Brockman finished with eight first-place votes, seven second-place votes, nine third-place votes, 16 fourth-place votes and 12 fifth-place votes to total 139 points. He closed out his record-setting career by going 359-for-517 for 3,729 yards and 28 touchdowns during the season. He set school records for attempts, completions, yards, touchdowns and total offense (3,802), while setting OVC records for attempts, completions and total offense. On the ground, Brockman rushed for 73 yards and seven touchdowns. The All-America signal caller threw at least two touchdowns in eight games this season, including throwing for a school and OVC record eight TDs against UT Martin. He also threw for over 300 yards seven times.
Garoppolo received three first-place votes, five second-place votes, seven third-place votes, 11 fourth-place votes and six fifth-place votes to finish with 84 total points (just four points out of eighth place). He was the trigger man for the Panthers finishing the season with an OVC-record 3,823 yards passing and 31 touchdowns. Garoppolo had six 300-yard games during the season including back-to-back 400-yard passing days against Austin Peay and UT Martin. Twice during the season he had five touchdown passes in a game including all five touchdown passes over 50-yards against Austin Peay. Garoppolo set the EIU single season record for pass completions and was second on the EIU charts in passing yards. He earned second team All-OVC honors.
Denham had one third-place vote, two fourth-place votes and one fifth-place vote to total eight points. The senior earned his second-straight first-team All-OVC honors this season as he became the first EKU running back to reach 1,000 yards rushing in back-to-back years since 2002. Denham rushed for 1,386 yards (9th nationally) and 14 touchdowns in helping EKU to an 8-3 overall record during the season.
|
2012 Walter Payton Award Voting |
|
Name |
School |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
Total |
|
1 Taylor Heinicke |
Old Dominion |
72 |
29 |
13 |
6 |
4 |
531 |
|
2 Miguel Maysonet |
Stony Brook |
13 |
25 |
20 |
21 |
17 |
284 |
|
3 Eric Breitenstein |
Wofford |
11 |
15 |
15 |
12 |
13 |
197 |
|
4 Erik Lora |
Eastern Illinois |
7 |
14 |
15 |
7 |
14 |
164 |
|
5 Gavin McCarney |
Colgate |
15 |
9 |
10 |
6 |
5 |
158 |
|
6 Casey Brockman |
Murray St |
8 |
7 |
9 |
16 |
12 |
139 |
|
7 Zach Zenner |
South Dakota St |
4 |
8 |
14 |
14 |
12 |
134 |
|
8 Aaron Mellette |
Elon |
1 |
6 |
9 |
11 |
10 |
88 |
|
9 DeNarius McGhee |
Montana St |
3 |
6 |
9 |
7 |
7 |
87 |
|
10 Jimmy Garoppolo |
E. Illinois |
3 |
5 |
7 |
11 |
6 |
84 |
|
11 Wynrick Smothers |
C. Arkansas |
2 |
4 |
9 |
5 |
14 |
77 |
|
12 Shakir Bell |
Indiana St |
1 |
5 |
5 |
8 |
1 |
57 |
|
13 Timothy Flanders |
Sam Houston St |
2 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
53 |
|
14 Jamal Jackson |
Appalachian St |
1 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
33 |
|
15 Brad Sorensen |
Southern Utah |
0 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
24 |
|
16 Deonte Williams |
Cal Poly |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
22 |
|
17 Zach Bauman |
N. Arizona |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
19 |
|
18 Terrance West |
Towson |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
13 |
|
19 Matt Denham |
E. Kentucky |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
|
20 Jamaine Cook |
Youngstown State |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
7 |