EWU's Meyer a finalist for Payton Award

mquast53000 · Post by **mquast53000** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:17 pm

I am surprised no one posted this article yet:

Associated Press
CHENEY, Wash. - Eastern Washington quarterback Erik Meyer is one of three finalists for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the best player in NCAA Division I-AA.

The other two finalists are New Hampshire quarterback Ricky Santos and Brown running back Nick Hartigan. Finalists were announced Monday, with ballots cast by media and sports information directors from throughout the country.

The winner will be announced Dec. 15 in Chattanooga, Tenn., on the eve of the NCAA I-AA national championship game.

Meyer's college career ended last Saturday when the Eagles (7-5) lost 41-38 at Northern Iowa in the first round of the Division I-AA Playoffs.

He passed for 387 yards and four touchdowns in the loss, to finish with 4,003 yards and 30 touchdowns for the season.

Meyer was named the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season.

Coach Paul Wulff thinks Meyer is worthy of the award.

"He's proven it throughout his career and this season," Wulff said. "If all the voters watched him play and the rest of the candidates play, I'm confident that they would vote for him as the best player in America."

Hartigan, a senior from Fairfax Station, Va., led all I-AA players with 1,727 yards rushing and 20 touchdowns to lift Brown to a 9-1 record.

Santos, a sophomore from Bellingham, Mass., passed for 3,200 yards and 33 touchdowns during New Hampshire's 10-1 regular season. He also ran for seven scores.

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.ph ... payton.inc

grizband · Post by **grizband** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:33 pm

This is the breakdown of how the voting went. The final three aren't announced until the winner is awared at Chatanooga.

2005 WALTER PAYTON AWARD VOTING
NAME (SCHOOL) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Total
Nick Hartigan (Brown) ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ???
Erik Meyer (Eastern Washington) ?? ?? ?? ?? ???
Ricky Santos (New Hampshire) ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ???
Bruce Eugene (Grambling State) 16 12 13 10 10 197
Barrick Nealy (Texas State) 6 5 10 6 8 100
Richie Williams (Appalachian State) 5 6 11 3 11 99
David Ball (New Hampshire) 1 4 7 17 8 84
Joe Rubin (Portland State) 0 5 9 8 7 70
Travis Lulay (Montana State) 4 3 4 8 5 65
Laurent Robinson (Illinois State) 1 2 6 4 4 43
Jermaine Austin (Georgia Southern) 1 5 0 3 7 38
Joel Sambursky (Southern Illinois) 1 4 2 4 3 38
Steve Silva (Holy Cross) 1 2 4 1 9 36
Ingle Martin (Furman) 2 3 1 1 3 30
Omar Cuff (Delaware) 0 1 3 3 2 21
Lex Hilliard (Montana) 0 0 0 1 2 4
*Josh Johnson (San Diego) 0 0 0 1 0 2
*Eric Kimble (Eastern Washington) 0 0 0 0 1 1
*Scott Phaydavong (Drake) 0 0 0 0 1 1
*- write-in candidate