The Walter Payton Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding offensive player in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) 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 National Football League (NFL) legend Walter Payton, who starred at Jackson State University in the early 1970s.
Up until presentations for the 2014 season, the Payton and Buchanan Awards were awarded by The Sports Network. Since STATS LLC, now known as Stats Perform, acquired The Sports Network in February 2015, it has presented all of the major FCS awards.
The most recent winner of the award is Beau Brungard, a quarterback from Youngstown State who earned the honor during the 2025 season.
Winners Year Winner Position School 1987 RB Colgate 1988 RB Towson State 1989 QB Idaho 1990 RB Grambling State 1991 QB Weber State 1992 QB Marshall 1993 QB Idaho 1994 QB Alcorn State 1995 QB Montana 1996 RB Northern Arizona 1997 WR Villanova 1998 RB New Hampshire 1999 RB Georgia Southern 2000 RB Furman 2001 RB Villanova 2002 QB Eastern Illinois 2003 RB Colgate 2004 QB William & Mary 2005 QB Eastern Washington 2006 QB New Hampshire 2007 QB Georgia Southern 2008 QB Appalachian State 2009 (2) QB Appalachian State2010 QB Stephen F. Austin 2011 QB Eastern Washington 2012 QB Old Dominion 2013 QB Eastern Illinois 2014 QB Villanova 2015 WR Eastern Washington 2016 QB Sam Houston State 2017 (2) QB Sam Houston State 2018 QB Samford 2019 QB North Dakota State 2020 QB Southeastern Louisiana 2021 QB Eastern Washington 2022 QB Incarnate Word 2023 QB South Dakota State 2024 QB Montana State 2025 QB Youngstown State
Awards won by school This is a list of the colleges and universities who have had a player win a Walter Payton Award. 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 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, 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. In 2019, Trey Lance of North Dakota State was the first freshman to receive the award.
School Awards Eastern Washington 4 Villanova 3 Appalachian State^ 2 Colgate Eastern Illinois Georgia Southern^ Idaho New Hampshire Sam Houston^ Alcorn State 1 Furman Grambling Incarnate Word Marshall^ Montana Montana State North Dakota State Northern Arizona North Dakota State^ Old Dominion^ Samford South Dakota State Southeastern Louisiana Stephen F. Austin Towson Weber State William & Mary Youngstown State ^ Team is now a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
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