Payton and Buchanan Winners??

[Josh]

Who do you all think will take home the hardware this year?

I am predicting Erik Meyer and Chris Gocong.

I must say both are a pleasure to interview. I have even talked to Erik Meyer's dad and his dad is one of those true football fans who just loves to see the game and his son play.

I turned his dad over to I-AA.org, AGS, and other great sites to go to that have info on his son.

What do you all think?

[FU97]

Wouldn't be shocked to see Meyer take home the Payton. I think Freeman had a great shot at the Buchanan.

[Eagle_77]

Im with your FU97. He has to be the front runner in the Payton and I think Freeman is top 3 going in to the season.

[Josh]

My top 5 for Buchanan would be (not order):
DE Chris Gocong, Cal Poly
DE Brady Fosmark, Weber State
ILB William Freeman, Furman
OLB Gian Villante, Hofstra
FS Shannon James, UMass

[GannonFan]

My top 5 for Buchanan would be (not order):
DE Chris Gocong, Cal Poly
DE Brady Fosmark, Weber State
ILB William Freeman, Furman
OLB Gian Villante, Hofstra
FS Shannon James, UMass

I think it's pretty tough to be a dback and win the Buchanan - far too much weight is put on just pure stats that a really good dback is going to have trouble generating (most of the good dbacks are thrown away from). The only dback to ever win it was Mathis and he needed a superhuman year with 14 picks just to win it. Seeing how he's a regular in the NFL now probably goes to show what type of player is needed to win it at a dback spot. I think the front 7, from a stat generating standpoint, have much better odds of winning it.

[exbearkat]

I like EWU's WR Eric Kimble for the Payton and a name that no-one seems to know, but soon will, is Sam Houston's Marcus Mikulec (MLB 6-2 245 Sr-3L) for the Buchanan. :nod:

[Josh]

I think it's pretty tough to be a dback and win the Buchanan - far too much weight is put on just pure stats that a really good dback is going to have trouble generating (most of the good dbacks are thrown away from). The only dback to ever win it was Mathis and he needed a superhuman year with 14 picks just to win it. Seeing how he's a regular in the NFL now probably goes to show what type of player is needed to win it at a dback spot. I think the front 7, from a stat generating standpoint, have much better odds of winning it.

I agree to but when you have 8 picks you have to be high on the list of top defensive players.

One reason voters go by stats is because most voters don't see every player.

If schools have the money they should send a highlight tape of plays on DBs to voters so they can see these kids.

I agree it is a shame that DBs don't win it as much. They are just like OL. An OL can dominate but because his stats don't show up in box score they dont get votes.

If an OL has over 150 pancakes and grades out at 98 percent or better they should be considered but never will.

[Josh]

I like EWU's WR Eric Kimble for the Payton and a name that no-one seems to know, but soon will, is Sam Houston's Marcus Mikulec (MLB 6-2 245 Sr-3L) for the Buchanan. :nod:

I have Mikulec on my list.

I will post both of my lists soon.

[FU97]

Im with your FU97. He has to be the front runner in the Payton and I think Freeman is top 3 going in to the season.

Moving Freeman to MLB full time will only improve his stats over his prior year. He will be a tackling machine. He was SoCon Defensive Player of the Year last year. I imagine he'll get the preseason nod as well. He is going to be a force to reckon with.

BTW, I wouldn't write Austin off of the list of potential Payton winners. If he stays healthy and their new QB gets really good at running the option, he could have a big year.

[Eagle_77]

Austin has the ability but in the past few years he hasnt had the TD's. The yards are there but not the scores. This may change this year now that Chaz is gone.

[umassfan]

Shannon James... will have another great season and already leads both I-A and I-AA players currently with career ints. His stats were good last year and should be there again this year. He was good enough to win A10 D player of the year as a JR.

[GannonFan]

I agree to but when you have 8 picks you have to be high on the list of top defensive players.

One reason voters go by stats is because most voters don't see every player.

If schools have the money they should send a highlight tape of plays on DBs to voters so they can see these kids.

I agree it is a shame that DBs don't win it as much. They are just like OL. An OL can dominate but because his stats don't show up in box score they dont get votes.

If an OL has over 150 pancakes and grades out at 98 percent or better they should be considered but never will.

That's my major gripe with these two awards - I think it's great to have them but as you say, the voters don't see every player. I'd actually wager that the majority of the voters only see a small handful of the players. It's tough to get behind an award when you know the people doing the voting may not know much more than I know (although I do have an inflated sense of self so maybe that's not a good comparison! ;) )

[GeauxLions94]

Even without Hankins throwing him the ball, the guy below will put up some gaudy numbers :nod:

[Josh]

Even without Hankins throwing him the ball, the guy below will put up some gaudy numbers :nod:

He is one of those borderline type picks. He or Cory Parks could go on the list. I picked Parks because he has had a better career and with Hankins gone the QB situation is up in the air.

[eaglefan452]

Austin has the ability but in the past few years he hasnt had the TD's. The yards are there but not the scores. This may change this year now that Chaz is gone.

I think that will change because in goal line plays, Chaz would usually just keep it and score, I think this year Foster will be less likely to do a sneak at the goal line and will give to Jermaine. Also, the emergence of Maynard and Jefferson will keep defenses guessing to the outside, leaving some decent holes for Jermaine. I think the one thing that might hold him back is the increasingly good play of Brandon Andrews. While I don't think Andrews will start over Jermaine or take a huge amount of carries away, he will be used more often this year I think.

[Josh]

That's my major gripe with these two awards - I think it's great to have them but as you say, the voters don't see every player. I'd actually wager that the majority of the voters only see a small handful of the players. It's tough to get behind an award when you know the people doing the voting may not know much more than I know (although I do have an inflated sense of self so maybe that's not a good comparison! ;) )

I personally think the 20 or so people who cover the entire nation and don't know about just one conference. Maybe then since there would not be so many voters every school could send full bios and highlights on the nominees to voters.

Maybe select voters from just national media, conference media, SIDs, ADs, and coaches. If there is a fan on AGS who would know as much as those I would be open to allowing them to vote as well.

I think 5-8 people is not a big enough pool and it seems like 100-200 voters is too big of a pool as well.

Maybe pick 1 person from each conference and then add in national media and some others who follow I-AA very closely and know all the players.

But we don't live in a perfect world and that will more than likely never happen.

[FU97]

Austin has the ability but in the past few years he hasnt had the TD's. The yards are there but not the scores. This may change this year now that Chaz is gone.

The TDs weren't there because Chaz took them all. Without him to "hog" the ball around the goalline, Austin should get a good number of them.

[PDXCat]

Montana States Travis Lulay for the Payton and Brady Fosmark from Weber for the Buchanan get my totally unbiased vote. :nod:

[Baldy]

In my totally unbiased opinion, Jermaine Austin and AJ Bryant or John Mohring. ;)

[catbob]

Why was my post deleted? Not allowed to talk about people not on the start of the list?

[catbob]

I had a big post about Ricky Gatewood...

[Brent]

Fred Evans (DT from Texas State) definitely will be in the hunt for the Buchanan.

[OL FU]

I had a big post about Ricky Gatewood...

I, on may occasions, have simply forgot to hit the submit reply button.

[kats89]

Fred Evans (DT from Texas State) definitely will be in the hunt for the Buchanan.

I would agree with that assessment Brent.