FCS Roundtable: Mid-Season Award Winners

Sep 1, 2012; Lawrence, KS, USA; Kansas Jayhawks tight end Trent Smiley (85) is unable to catch this pass while defended by South Dakota State Jackrabbits linebacker Ross Shafrath (44) in the first half at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

The season is already past the midway point for the Championship Subdivision, now that every program has played at least six games. Individual award races are beginning to take shape, and the roundtable panelists gave their mid-season updates on who is coming down the stretch leading for the Walter Payton, Buck Buchanan, Jerry Rice and Eddie Robinson Awards.

Todd Davis, JMUSportsBlog.com

Payton – Even with this past weekend’s losses, the favorites thus far have to be ODU’s Taylor Heinicke, who submitted the season’s transcendent performance to date (thought UNH’s defense is showing signs of being even worse than we thought then if that’s even possible) and Montana St.’s DeNarius McGhee, the preseason favorite and maybe the most well-known nationally after being a finalist the last two seasons. We’d probably lean towards McGhee, if only because Montana St.’s schedule looks a lot easier down the stretch for maintaining a top five ranking. The top RB candidates have to be Stony Brook’s Miguel Maysonet and Indiana St.’s Shakir Bell. But this is usually a QB award.

Buchanan – We’re biased, but there’s not a finer defensive player at this level anywhere in the country than JMU LB Stephon Robertson. How he’s not on the watch list is beyond us. That said, of those on the watch list, Howard’s Keith Pough and App. St.’s Jeremy Kimbrough are doing incredible things for teams that would be entirely lost without them.

Rice – Even without big numbers, hard to overlook that the new #1 team EWU is led by a redshirt freshman QB in Vernon Adams. Stay on top, he’ll be a safe bet. Of the non-QB’s a nod to South Dakota St. LB T.J. Lally for helping put them into the top 25.

Robinson – Even with last weekend’s loss, we’re very impressed with the job NDSU coach Craig Bohl has done getting his team off to a great start and avoiding the type of NC hangover that hurt EWU so bad last year. Villanova Coach Andy Talley, one of the most underrated coaches around, also has his team back playing at a high level after a couple down seasons.

Ben Moore, PantherTalk.com

Payton – QB Taylor Heinicke – Old Dominion – It’s been an assault until last weekend. I believe Heinicke gets back on track this weekend.
Buchanan – LB Ross Shafrath – South Dakota State – Shafrath has been a beast so far for 69 total tackles, 2 INTs, 4 passes broken up. Dude is everywhere for the Jackrabbits.

Rice – QB John Robertson – Villanova – One man wrecking crew. 1184 yards passing, 6 TDs passing. 731 yards, 8 TDs rushing. I get a front row seat this Saturday as ‘Nova faces Georgia State in Atlanta.

Eddie Robinson – Andy Talley – Villanova – VU went 2-10 in 2011 and the Wildcats are getting healthy at the right time. I could see them winning 3 out of the next 4 games to finish the regular season 8-3.

Shaun Bummer, GrizNationBlog.com

Walter Payton Award: Old Dominion QB Taylor Heinicke – The current Payton Award favorite has got to be a no-brainer. Not only does Heinicke lead the FCS in passing yards with 2,789 in only six games, but most FCS fans are aware of Heinicke’s record setting game passing for 730 yards against New Hampshire. I’ll also give some love to South Dakota State’s Zach Zenner who leads the FCS in rushing yards with 208 ypg along with Indiana State RB Shakir Bell with 147.6 ypg.

Buck Buchanan Award: Appalachain State LB Jeremy Kimbrough – Kimbrough has had a monster season so far with 77 total tackles, 42 solo, 3.5 tackles for loss, and an interception. 2011 Buchanan Award winner New Hampshire LB Matt Evans will also continue to be in the mix. Although against weaker competition, it’s hard to ignore Georgetown LB Robert McCabe’s success with an outstanding 99 total tackles, 11.5 for loss.

Jerry Rice Award: Eastern Washington QB Vernon Adams – Although Adams has come on to the scene late taking over for Kyle Padron, I believe Adams will be considered the top freshman in the FCS by the end of the season. Adams passed for 353 yards and three touchdowns in the victory over Montana while passing for four touchdowns in the win over North Dakota. Adams has also led the way for the Eagles to become the number one team in the FCS this week.

Eddie Robinson Award: Tennessee State’s Rod Reed – The Tigers weren’t considered to be a contender in the Ohio Valley Conference this year. Now, they’re 7-0 with big wins over Bethune-Cookman and Eastern Kentucky. If Reed can find a way to run the table, including a win over Jacksonville State this Saturday, Reed will have a great shot at the award.

SoCon John

If I had pick the three awards right now, I would give the Walter Payton Award to Taylor Heinicke. I think it would be hard to go against what he has done and the numbers he has put up through the first half of the season. For the Buchanan Award, I would give that to Georgia Southern’s Brent Russell.

I just feel like he dominates a game so well and he’s the guy that you have to scheme your defensive line against if you are a defensive coordinator. The Jerry Rice Award might be the most difficult to pick, however, I have to go with what I have seen and what I have seen is Sean Price, who is having one of the best freshman seasons in Appalachian State and Southern Conference history, and he has missed two games. He has three 100 or more receiving games in his five starts this season.

Finally, the Eddie Robinson Award for me goes to either Eastern Washington’s Beau Baldwin, Brock Spack of Ilinois State or Mickey Matthews of James Madison. I think a coach that might get a look at the award depending on how the stretch run goes is Samford’s Pat Sullivan, who I think has done an outstanding job of putting the Bulldogs in position to make an FCS playoff appearance.

Joe Suhoski, VBR Productions

Due to a lack of punctuality, here is the two-minute drill version of the best candidates from CAA football. All rankings listed are conference-only.

Walter Payton Award: Taylor Heinicke, Old Dominion. He averages 464.8 yards of total offense per game, and he’s missed three fourth-quarters because the scores have been blowouts. While he leads the CAA with 23 touchdown passes, the next-closest (UNH’s Andy Vailas) has 16 in one more game played.

Buck Buchanan Award: Paul Worrilow, Delaware. The linebacker is tied for second in tackles per game (9.8), tied for fourth in TFL’s/game (1.08) and is the leader of a defense that is third in points allowed per contest.

Jerry Rice Award: John Robertson, Villanova. The first year starter at quarterback has led the Wildcats to a 5-2 record, after UV won only two games last year. Robertson is fourth in rushing yards, seventh in passing yards and is the only freshman in the top ten in scoring (6.9 points/game). His most impressive stat: in seven games he’s thrown only four interceptions, three of which came in one game.

Eddie Robinson Award: Sean McDonnell, New Hampshire. The leader of the other Wildcats, Coach McDonnell needed to replace 2011’s CAA Offensive POY (Kevin Decker) and a defensive lineman who battled for playing time in Redskins camp (Brian McNally). All his team has done is go 5-2. The two losses were at Minnesota (the starting QB was injured on the first drive of the game) and at Old Dominion (who needed a record-breaking performance from Heinicke to win by a field goal). Andy Talley deserves credit but we’ll give the nod to McDonnell considering what his team lost from last year.