The Sports Network released its final ballot for its top individual awards for the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) on Monday. The awards, sponsored by Fathead.com, include the Walter Payton Award (top offensive player), Buck Buchanan Award (top defensive player), Jerry Rice Award (top freshman) and Eddie Robinson Award (top coach).
Each award has 20 finalists and the Ohio Valley Conference has one person on each of the final lists, as Murray State junior quarterback Casey Brockman appears on the Payton ballot, Eastern Kentucky senior defensive back Jeremy Caldwell is on the Buchanan ballot, Tennessee State freshman quarterback Michael German is on the Rice ballot and Tennessee Tech head coach Watson Brown is on the Robinson ballot.
The awards will be voted on by a panel of over 150 sports information/media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries. The winners will be announced on Friday, Jan. 6 at the National Awards Banquet held in Frisco, Texas on the eve of the National Championship game.
Brown is on the Robinson list which was released for the first time on Monday. In his fifth season at Tennessee Tech he led the Golden Eagles to its first OVC Championship since 1975. The championship is the first for Brown in his 27 years of coaching at the Division I level. The Golden Eagles earned the OVC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Championship playoffs and will play in its first-ever playoff game on Saturday when it hosts Central Arkansas. TTU was 7-3 overall and 6-2 in OVC play. OVC coaches have won the Robinson Award on two previous occasions, including Southeast Missouri's Tony Samuel a year ago (the other winner was Murray State's Houston Nutt in 1995).
Brockman, who has been on the Payton Watch List all season long, completed 316-of-477 passes (66.2%) for 3,276 yards and 25 touchdowns this season while also carrying the ball 91 times for 211 yards and four more scores. He even caught two passes, both of which went for touchdowns. Brockman's 316 completions set a new OVC single-season record (breaking the old mark of 279) while his 3,276 passing yards ranked second in OVC single-season history. In the final game of the season Brockman passed, rushed and caught a touchdown pass (all in the first half) in a win over Southeast Missouri. Earlier in the season he passed for 600 yards and seven touchdowns in a win over Tennessee State, setting OVC records in both categories. The OVC has had only one other Payton Winner, as Eastern Illinois' Tony Romo won in 2002.
In 11 regular season games Caldwell had 46 tackles (35 solo), 2.5 tackles-for-loss, two interceptions, six pass breakups, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Caldwell, who has been on the watch list all season, has 15 career interceptions, which ranks third among active FCS players. No OVC player has ever won the Buchanan Award.
German emerged as the starting quarterback for Tennessee State in the fourth game of the season and finished the year completing 140-of-250 passes (56.0%) for 1,899 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also carried the ball 26 times and scored two rushing touchdowns. He was named OVC Newcomer of the Week four times during the year. This year marks the first time the Jerry Rice Award has been awarded.