Three South Dakota State University football players who were finalists for the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award last season are included in the initial watch list for the 2017 award, which was unveiled Wednesday.
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Three South Dakota State University football players who were finalists for the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award last season are included in the initial watch list for the 2017 award, which was unveiled Wednesday.
Representing the Jackrabbits on the list for the top offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision are junior quarterback Taryn Christion, senior wide receiver Jake Wieneke and senior tight end Dallas Goedert.
A dual-threat quarterback, Christion re-wrote the Jackrabbit record book during the 2016 season en route to a seventh-place finish in the balloting for the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award.
The reigning Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Christion completed 64.3 percent (279-of-434) of his passes for a school-record 3,714 yards in 2016. He also tied a Jackrabbit single-season mark with 30 touchdown passes against only nine interceptions.
Christion also set an SDSU single-season record with 4,049 yards of total offense, including a single-game mark of 475 in a win at Southern Illinois.
Wieneke, a two-time finalist for the award, finished 10th in the voting in 2016 after establishing a new single-season career high with 78 receptions for 1,316 yards and tying his own school record with 16 touchdowns. He also threw for one score.
The third of SDSU's unprecedented trio of players to be considered for the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award in 2016, Goedert burst onto the national scene by setting a new Jackrabbit single-season record by hauling in 92 receptions and ranking second on the squad with 1,293 receiving yards and 11 touchdown receptions. Goedert demonstrated big-play ability as 21 of his catches covered at least 20 yards, including four touchdown receptions of 39 or more yards.
Goedert wound up 14th in the balloting for the 2016 STATS FCS Walter Payton Award.
A total of 22 players were included in the initial STATS FCS Walter Payton Award watch list, which will be updated periodically throughout the 2017 season.
The award will be presented Jan. 5 in Frisco, Texas, on the eve of the FCS national championship game.
