Edwards up

for Payton Award
By Steve Behr

Sitting in a banquet hall is not exactly how Armanti Edwards would like to remember the 2008 season.

Edwards, Appalachian State’s quarterback, is more used to being on the sidelines of Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn., guiding his Mountaineers to a Football Championship Subdivision championship.

That won’t happen this week. Instead of the Mountaineers playing for a fourth straight national title, Montana will play Rich-mond for that honor, the game starting Friday at 8 p.m.

So, Edwards will hope to get a decent consolation prize, the Walter Payton Award. He is one of three players up for the honor, which is given to the top player in the FCS by The Sports Network. The banquet is at the Chatta-nooga (Tenn.) Marriott.

Defensively, Appalachian State safety Mark LeGree is up for the Buck Buchanan Award and Mountaineers head coach Jerry Moore is up for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.

Edwards is up against two outstanding players. James Madison quarterback Rodney Landers and Western Illinois running back Herb Donaldson are the other Payton finalists.

Edwards has never been about individual awards, though plenty have been given to him. Most recently, he was named the Southern Conference's Offensive Player of the Year after guiding the Mountaineers to their fourth straight league championship. Appalachian State finished the regular season 10-2 overall, 8-0 in the SoCon.

The Mountaineers added a playoff victory over South Carolina State, but lost to Richmond 33-13 in the FCS quarterfinals, leaving them with an 11-3 final record. It was just the second time since 2003 that the Mountaineers had lost a home game.

Landers led James Madison to the FCS semifinals before an injury knocked him out of the Dukes’ loss to Montana. Landers led James Madison to a 12-2 record and had the Dukes ranked No. 1 for most of the season one week after their victory over Appalachian State on Sept. 20.

Edwards finished his junior season with 2,902 passing yards, 941 yards rushing and was responsible for 41 touchdowns. He generated 3,843 yards in total offense and led an offense that averaged 37.3 points and 463.6 yards per game.