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.
thumb|right|The award was named to honor college and NFL star [[Walter Payton]]
thumb|right|[[Armanti Edwards was the first player to win the award more than once (2008, 2009).]]
Winners
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Winner
! Position
! School
!
|- align=center
| 1987
|
| RB
| Colgate
|
|- align=center
| 1988
|
| RB
| Towson State
|
|- align=center
| 2016
|
| QB
| Sam Houston State
| rowspan="2" | 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.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;" width="auto"
|-
! School
! Awards
|-
| Eastern Washington
| rowspan="1" | 4
|-
| Villanova
| rowspan="1" | 3
|-
| Appalachian State^
| rowspan="7" | 2
|-
| Colgate
|-
| Eastern Illinois
|-
| Georgia Southern^
|-
| Idaho
|-
| New Hampshire
|-
| Sam Houston^
|-
| Alcorn State
| rowspan="19" | 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).
References
Informational notes
Citations