Wednesday, November 9, 2016
by Cody Bush, PFL Media Relations

CHICAGO – San Diego quarterback Anthony Lawrence was one eight additions to the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award Watch List, updated Wednesday. The award recognizes the FCS' Offensive Player of the Year.

The La Mesa, California, product has led San Diego to the cusp of its eighth Pioneer Football League title in 2016. He has built on his freshman campaign that saw him named the league's Offensive Freshman of the Year last season. Lawrence enters Week 11 of the FCS campaign ranked among the FCS leaders in completion percentage (6th), passing efficieency (6th); patting touchdowns (22nd), passing yards per game (19th) and yards per pass attempt (10th).

Lawrence has completed 152-of-227 passes (67.4 percent) for 1,996 yards (249.5 ypg) with two regular-season contests remaining. He has tossed 17 touchdowns against just five interceptions and has amassed a 161.6 pass efficiency rating. In PFL play alone, he has completed 121-of-177 passes (68.4 percent) for 1,658 yards (276.3 ypg) with 14 touchdowns against five interceptions for a league-best 167.5 pass efficiency rating.

The other additions to the watch list included: Duquesne quarterback Dillon Buechel; Bucknell offensive tackle Julie'n Davenport; South Dakota State tight end Dallas Goedert; Grambling State quarterback DeVante Kincade; Gardner-Webb quarterback Tyrell Maxwell; Lehigh wide receiver Troy Pelletier and James Madison quarterback Bryan Schor.

Prior to Wednesday's update, the offensive watch list included the following nominees, including Morehead State quarterback Austin Gahafer:

Quarterbacks: Aaron Bailey of Northern Iowa, Jeremiah Briscoe of Sam Houston State, Taryn Christion of South Dakota State, Case Cookus of Northern Arizona, Austin Gahafer of Morehead State, Gage Gubrud of Eastern Washington, Brady Gustafson of Montana, Devlin Hodges of Samford, KD Humphries of Murray State, Eli Jenkins of Jacksonville State, Kyle Lauletta of Richmond, RJ Noel of Sacred Heart and Peter Pujals of Holy Cross;

Running backs: Khalid Abdullah of James Madison, Kendell Anderson of William & Mary, Tarik Cohen of North Carolina A&T, Derrick Craine of Chattanooga, Chase Edmonds of Fordham, Darius Hammond of Charleston Southern, Kade Harrington of Lamar, De'Angelo Henderson of Coastal Carolina, John Santiago of North Dakota, Lenard Tillery of Southern and Darius Victor of Towson;

Wide receivers: Emmanuel Butler of Northern Arizona, 2015 award winner Cooper Kupp of Eastern Washington, Justin Watson of Penn and Jake Wieneke of South Dakota State.

A national panel of over 150 sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries will select the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award following the regular season. Also this season, STATS will present the Buck Buchanan Award (FCS defensive player of the year), the Jerry Rice Award (FCS freshman player of the year), the Eddie Robinson Award (FCS coach of the year) and the Doris Robinson FCS Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

STATS is a sports statistics, technology, data, and content company founded in 1981. STATS provides content to multimedia platforms, television broadcasters, leagues and teams. The organization acquired The Sports Network, which formerly administered this award, in 2015.