The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the

NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

(formerly Division I-AA) of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

as chosen by a nationwide panel of media and college sports information directors. The honor was first given in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

to the outstanding player in the division, but in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, eligibility was restricted to offensive players, as the

Buck Buchanan Award The Buck Buchanan Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding defensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) of college football, and was first given in 1995 after the Walter Payton Award was ...

for defensive players was inaugurated. The award was named in honor of the late

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL) legend

Walter Payton Walter Jerry Payton (July 25, 1953Although most sources at the time of his death gave Payton's birth year as 1954, reliable sources subsequently state he was born in 1953. – November 1, 1999) was an American football running back who played ...

, who starred at

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of studen ...

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 Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanf ...

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 Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, and

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a c ...

. Two players have won the award twice, with both being the only players from their institutions to win. In 2009,

Armanti Edwards Armanti Fredrico Edwards Sr. (born March 8, 1988) is an American gridiron football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He most recently played for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted by the Carolin ...

from

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Doug ...

became the first to receive the award twice, followed in 2017 by Jeremiah Briscoe from

Sam Houston State Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

. In 2019,

Trey Lance Trey Lance (born May 9, 2000) is an American football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at North Dakota State, where he received the Walter Payton and Jerry Rice Awards as ...

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North ...

was the first freshman to receive the award. The most recent winner of the award is

Eric Barriere Eric Barriere (born December 27, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League (USFL). He played college football for Eastern Washington University. Barriere won the Walter Payton Award ...

, a quarterback from

who earned the honor during the 2021 season. 1986 Jeno's Pizza - 12 - Walter Payton (Walter Payton crop)

Winners

References

{{College football award navbox College football national player awards Awards established in 1987 Walter Payton