[Rooster Cogburn]

Webber joined the Payton Award Watch List as a finalist alongside quarterbacks Matt Barr of Western Illinois, Mike Brown of Liberty, Pat Devlin of Delaware, Denarius McGhee of Montana State, Jeremy Moses of Stephen F. Austin, DeAndre Presley of Appalachian State, Scott Riddle of Elon, Casey Therriault of Jackson State, Steve Valentino of Dayton and Chris Whitney of Villanova; running backs Nate Eachus of Colgate, Chris Evans of Samford, Henry Harris of Southeast Missouri State, Taiwan Jones of Eastern Washington, Kyle Minett of South Dakota State, Chase Reynolds of Montana and Frank Warren of Grambling State; wide receiver Tysson Poots of Southern Utah; and offensive tackle Ben Ijalana of Villanova.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnf ... id=4358118

[BigAl57]

Barr, Moses, Presley invited to Payton announcement
By Craig Haley, FCS Executive Director

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Three outstanding quarterbacks who hope to cap their seasons in the NCAA Division I Championship Game next month already know they will make the trip to Frisco, Texas, for the announcement of the Walter Payton Award.

Matt Barr of Western Illinois, Jeremy Moses of Stephen F. Austin and DeAndre Presley of Appalachian State have been invited to the 24th Annual Football Championship Subdivision Awards Presentation on the evening of Thursday, Jan. 6. The Sports Network presents and Fathead.com sponsors the Walter Payton Award that is bestowed on the outstanding player in the FCS.


The Payton Award was voted on by a national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries. Other finalists on the ballot were quarterbacks Mike Brown of Liberty, Pat Devlin of Delaware, Denarius McGhee of Montana State, Scott Riddle of Elon, Casey Therriault of Jackson State, Steve Valentino of Dayton and Chris Whitney of Villanova; running backs Nate Eachus of Colgate, Chris Evans of Samford, Henry Harris of Southeast Missouri State, Taiwan Jones of Eastern Washington, Kyle Minett of South Dakota State, Chase Reynolds of Montana and Frank Warren of Grambling State; wide receiver Tysson Poots of Southern Utah and Raymond Webber of Arkansas-Pine Bluff; and offensive tackle Ben Ijalana of Villanova.


Remaining Payton Votes.........1st....2nd....3rd....4th....5th....Total

4. Taiwan Jones, E. Washington.....11.....12......8.....19......4.....169

5. Henry Harris, SE Missouri St....11.....10.....10.....10.....10.....155

6. Nate Eachus, Colgate.............6......9.....12.....14.....14.....144

7. Denarius McGhee, Montana St......5......7......7......5......8......92

8. Raymond Webber, Ark.-PB..........2......8......5......9.....11......86

9. Casey Therriault, Jackson St.....3......7.....11......2......5......85

10. Ben Ijalana, Villanova...........3......4......6......7.....12......75

11. Mike Brown, Liberty..............3......4......6......8......4......69

12. Pat Devlin, Delaware.............5......5......3......2.....10......68

13. Scott Riddle, Elon...............2......1......8......5......6......54

14. Chris Whitney, Villanova.........2......0......4......7......2......38

15. Tysson Poots, Southern Utah......6......1......0......0......3......37

16. Frank Warren, Grambling St.......4......1......2......0......1......31

17. Chris Evans, Samford.............0......1......1......0......2.......9

18. Kyle Minett, South Dakota St.....0......0......1......2......1.......8

19. *Eric Breitenstein, Wofford......0......1......0......1......0.......6

20. Chase Reynolds, Montana..........0......1......0......0......0.......4

21. Steve Valentino, Dayton..........0......0......0......1......1.......3

22. *Marcus Harris, Murray State.....0......0......0......0......1.......1

* - Write-in vote.

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnf ... id=4360721

[BigAl57]

Looking at this i am confused how an offensive tackle gets more votes than Mike

[LUconn]

3 1st place votes. Not too shabby

[ToTheLeft]

Looking at this i am confused how an offensive tackle gets more votes than Mike

Ever seen him play? Man amongst boys at the FCS level. A "trench fight" of him and Asa would be epic. He's worthy of the respect.

[ToTheLeft]

3 1st place votes. Not too shabby

And high praise considering the 3 guys below him on the list.

[Del Flame]

3 1st place votes. Not too shabby

And high praise considering the 3 guys below him on the list.

Personally, I have not seen the Elon guy, but I can attest to the fact that the Villanova players and Devlin are excellent. Mike is in great company! Next year, he'll be even higher.

[flameshaw]

I wasn't impressed with the kid from WIU at all. Haven't seen the other two play. The kid from Elon is pretty good, but would rather have MB for sure.

[Sly Fox]

Agreed, Flameshaw. Barr didn't look very impressive against CCU.

[flameshaw]

Must be Chicago politics.

[Chris Lang]

Ijiliana from Villanova is the top rated FCS offensive tackle on the draft board (seventh overall) and was a four-year starter who played for a national-championship winning team. Worthy of consideration, IMHO, though I didn't put him in my top 5.

(And no, I didn't give Mike Brown one of his first-place votes.)

[LUnpretty11]

I was discussing with Todd Wetmore (SID) about the OT from Nova. We all know he is going to be the highest drafted FCS player in this years draft... hands down, no questions asked. But what we were discussing was how the setup for the voting was done a little oddly. There were no real stats to keep up with the guy, and because of that it's a little tough to vote for someone who's stats are under his teams success (ranking in total offense, rushing offense etc.). Some statistician should have been keeping up with how many pancakes or sacks allowed or some feasible stat that could show how dominant the player really is.

Lang, I'm disappointed in you