The nation’s best offensive player is in Hammond, America, as Southeastern Louisiana senior quarterback Cole Kelley was named the 2020-21 Stats Perform FCS Walter Payton Award winner in an announcement on Saturday.
Kelley becomes the 34th recipient of the Payton Award, bestowed upon the best offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision and named for the legendary Chicago Bears running back, who played collegiately at Jackson State.
Kelley is the third Payton Award recipient from the Southland Conference, joining Stephen F. Austin’s Jeremy Moses in 2010 and Sam Houston’s Jeremiah Briscoe in 2016 and ‘17. Other notable past recipients of the Heisman of the FCS include Steve McNair, Tony Romo, Brian Westbrook, Jimmy Garoppolo, Cooper Kupp and Trey Lance.
