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 designated solely for offensive players.
It was named in honor of Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle Buck Buchanan (died 1992), who starred at Grambling State University. Buchanan was an All-American defensive lineman and the first overall pick in the 1963 American Football League (AFL) Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.
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. Through the 2011 season, the awards were presented the night before the NCAA Division I Football Championship, but the 2012 awards were presented on December 17, nearly three weeks before that season's championship game.
Winners Season Winner Pos. School 1995 LB Appalachian State 1996 (2) LB Appalachian State 1997 DE North Carolina A&T 1998 LB Western Illinois 1999 DT Troy State 2000 LB Western Illinois 2001 LB James Madison 2002 CB Bethune–Cookman 2003 DE Idaho State 2004 LB Cal Poly 2005 DE Cal Poly 2006 LB Cal Poly 2007 DE Montana 2008 DE Eastern Washington 2009 DE James Madison 2010 LB Eastern Washington 2011 LB New Hampshire 2012 DE Montana State 2013 DE Montana State 2014 DE North Dakota State 2015 LB Norfolk State 2016 DE Northern Iowa 2017 DE Jacksonville State 2018 LB Southeast Missouri State 2019 LB Montana 2020–21 DE Southern 2021 DE Florida A&M 2022 LB Illinois State 2023 DE Tennessee State 2024 DE Central Arkansas 2025 DE Mercer
Awards won by school This is a list of the colleges and universities who have had a player win a Buck Buchanan Award. Cal Poly (2004, 2005, 2006) is the only program with three winners. Appalachian State (1995–1996), Eastern Washington (2008, 2010), James Madison (2001, 2009), Montana (2007, 2019), Montana State (2012–2013), and Western Illinois (1998, 2000), are the only schools to win the award twice. Dexter Coakley of Appalachian State is the only player to win the award twice.
School Awards Cal Poly 3 Appalachian State^ 2 Eastern Washington James Madison^ Montana Montana State Western Illinois Bethune–Cookman 1 Central Arkansas Florida A&M Idaho State Illinois State Jacksonville State^ Mercer New Hampshire Norfolk State North Carolina A&T North Dakota State Northern Iowa Southeast Missouri State Southern Tennessee State Troy State^ ^ Team is now a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
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