CHICAGO – April 28, 2021 – Quarterbacks Eric Barriere of Eastern Washington and Cole Kelley of Southeastern Louisiana and running back Julius Chestnut of Sacred Heart were invited on Wednesday to the announcement of the 2020-21 Stats Perform FCS Walter Payton Award, which honors the offensive player of the year in college football’s Division I subdivision.

The trio was among 16 finalists for the Payton, named for the legendary running back and in its 34^th season. The winner will be announced on an FCS National Awards show to air on Bally Sports Regional Networks (formerly Fox Sports Regional Networks) on Saturday, May 15.

Past recipients of the Heisman of the FCS include Steve McNair, Tony Romo, Brian Westbrook, Jimmy Garoppolo, Cooper Kupp and, most recently Trey Lance, who is expected to be one of the early NFL Draft selections Thursday night.

Barriere (Big Sky), Chestnut (Northeast) and Kelley (Southland) received the offensive player of the year award in their respective conference. Each was a Stats Perform national offensive player of the week during the regular season.

Barriere, a 6-foot, 200-pound senior, ranked in the top five nationally over a six-game regular season in passing yards (2,193, fourth), passing yards per game (365.5, fifth), attempts (265, fifth), completions (166, fifth), touchdown passes (18, tied for third) and total offensive yards (2,328, third). He went on to pass for 246 yards and a touchdown in a playoff loss this past weekend.

Chestnut, a 6-1, 215-pound junior, rushed for 138 yards and a touchdown in a playoff loss as well. It followed a four-game regular season in which he led the FCS in rushing yards per game (179.3) and all-purpose yards per game (222.0) and ranked second in points per game (17.0) and fourth in yards per carry (7.7).

Kelley, a 6-7, 260-pound senior, played in seven regular-season games, leading the FCS in passing yards (2,662), completions (210), total offensive yards (2,708) and total touchdowns (27). He also was in the top five in pass attempts (305, second), TD passes (18, tied for third) and completion percentage (68.9, fifth).

A 40-member national media panel voted on the Payton Award following the unprecedented 2020-21 regular season, which spanned the fall and spring semesters.

2020-21 Walter Payton Award Voting Results

A first-place vote was worth five points, a second-place vote four points, a third-place vote three points, a fourth-place vote two points and a fifth-place vote one point.

1. TBA, May 15

2. TBA, May 15

3. TBA, May 15

4. Jakob Herres, WR, VMI: 1-4-5-2-4-44

5. Otis Weah, RB, North Dakota: 1-1-5-2-5-33

6. Aqeel Glass, RB, Alabama A&M: 1-1-2-4-7-30

7. Dejoun Lee, RB, Delaware: 0-4-1-1-1-22

8.(tie) Juwon Farri, RB, Monmouth: 0-2-1-2-5-20

8.(tie) Pierre Strong Jr., RB, South Dakota State: 0-2-1-3-3-20

10. Liam Welch, QB, Samford: 0-1-3-1-4-19

11.(tie) Percy Agyei-Obese, RB, James Madison: 1-0-2-1-1-14

11.(tie) Tyler Hudson, WR, Central Arkansas: 0-1-1-2-3-14

13. Quay Holmes, RB, ETSU: 0-1-2-1-1-13

14. Keith Pearson, WR, Presbyterian: 0-0-0-4-1-9

15. DeAngelo Wilson, WR, Austin Peay: 0-1-1-0-1-8

16. Tim DeMorat, QB, Fordham: 0-0-0-1-0-2

Eastern Washington senior Shaq Hill scored his second touchdown of the day and his 19^th of his decorated final season on a one-yard end-around run. The score put Eastern up 38-34 with four minutes, 24 seconds left in the FCS semifinal showdown in Cheney. On the ensuing kickoff, EWU head coach Beau Baldwin elected to have Roldan Alcobendas squib the kick. YSU took possession at its own 42-yard line and proceeded to pound the football like it had all game. Tevin McCaster, a sophomore with an elevated role because of the suspension of star tailback Martin Ruiz, ripped off 12 yards on the first rush and 13 yards on the next four carries to get YSU to the EWU 33. The clock read 1:18.

On second down and nine yards to go, YSU quarterback Hunter Wells hit Shane Kuhn for a gain that the officials ruled a first down. The review showed Kuhn was short. On third and short, the Penguins false started. On third down and six, Wells rushed for nine yards to the EWU 21 and Pelini,called a timeout to stop the clock with 44 seconds left. Wells hit Alvin Bailey for a 13-yard gain, then the quarterback rushed for three yards to the EWU 5 before YSU’s timeout with six seconds to play. On the final YSU offensive play of the game, Wells threw to the end-zone toward junior tight end Kevin Rader. The Pittsburgh native pinned the throw with his right hand to EWU sophomore linebacker Ketner Kupp’s left shoulder. After replay review, the officials ruled the snare a touchdown and the six points put Youngstown State up 40-38 against the No. 2 seed in the FCS playoffs.

The ensuing kickoff included Sam McPherson’s lateral to Cooper Kupp, who passed it to Shaq Hill, who pitched it to Antoine Custer. Nsimba Webster, Custer and, finally, poetically, Cooper Kupp touched the ball on the final play before Eastern Washington’s dream season finally ended. Cooper Kupp’s poetically cruel final fumble on the final play of an arctic cold day ended the game and gave Youngstown State a 40-38 victory to earn a place in the FCS national title game against James Madison on January 7. The final play ended Kupp’s illustrious career, one of the greatest the Big Sky Conference has ever seen. And it ended EWU’s Big Sky championship campaign with a 12-2 record and a loss one game short of the Eagles’ ultimate goal.

“We’ll hold our heads high and be very proud of what this team accomplished, especially this senior group,” said Baldwin of the team’s 12 highly-productive seniors who combined for 317 starts. “It’s a special group that is going to leave a legacy and definitely a great example for the next crew as we get going in January.

“It’s such an amazing group and gave us so many memories. It was a resilient bunch the entire year and they played the toughest schedule in school history. They handled it to the level of regularly getting double-digit wins, going undefeated in the league, beating a Pac-12 team going to a bowl game and taking North Dakota State right down to the wire. The senior group got us to that level of consistency week-in and week-out so we could compete at that type of level.”

The win is Youngstown State’s sixth straight and 12^th overall this season. The Penguins beat Samford in the first round, No. 3 Jacksonville State 41-20 in the second round and Wofford 30-23 in overtime in the quarterfinals. The Penguins will take on James Madison, a 27-17 winner in Fargo to end top-seeded North Dakota State’s run of five straight national championships.

The Eagles jumped out to leads of 17-7, 24-10 and 31-20 thanks to a fierce passing attack. During the week leading up to the FCS semifinals, Pelini said he had played this type of offense before. The YSU players compared EWU to South Dakota State.

But Youngstown State looked stuck in its tracks early on. Kupp ripped off a 50-yard reception, beating double coverage for a catch that set up a 21-yard Alcobendas field goal. Senior Kendrick Bourne beat the man coverage for an 83-yard touchdown to put EWU Up 17-7 with 12:35 left in the second quarter.

Kupp caught his second touchdown pass, a 32-yard reception on a running back pass by McPherson, with 2:48 until halftime and came directly after a muffed punt by YSU. The four-time All-American’s 73rd scoring catch put him over 100 yards for the 31^st time in his decorated career and gave the Eagles a 24-10 lead.

With Ruiz (1,193 yards, 12 TDs) on the bench due to suspension, McCaster came off the bench to run for 154 yards on 29 carries, including three touchdowns. Senior Jody Webb, the Missouri Valley Conference’s leading rusher, finished with 101 yards on 21 carries. McCaster, a sophomore, had a 20-yard scoring scamper with 46 seconds left in the first half cut the EWU lead to 24-17 at the break.

YSU opened the second half with a 13-play, 79-yard, six-minute, 41-second drive capped by Zak Kennedy’s second field goal, this one from 20 yards. The chip shot cut the EWU lead to 24-20. Hill’s 17^th touchdown reception this season put Eastern up 31-20 with 6:46 left in the third quarter and also gave EWU sophomore Gage Gubrud the FCS single-season passing yards record.

Bailey’s 13-yard reception set up Wells’ winning touchdown toss and his 11-yard touchdown catch with 12:14 left helped spark the rally. That score capped 14-play, 82-yard, 6:47 drive as the Penguins continued to drain the clock. McCaster’s third touchdown from 12 yards out on third down gave YSU its first lead since 7-0 early, this advantage with 6:30 left.

The Eagles blazed down the field thanks in part to a 38-yard Stu Stiles reception that also included multiple flags for pass interference. Gubrud scurried for 11 of his team-high 48 rushing yards, then handed to Hill on back-to-back end arounds, the first netting 13 yards, the second netting one and giving EWU a 38-34 lead. But the seven-play, 80-yard possession lasted just 2:06 and gave YSU more than four minutes to work with.

Kupp finished his peerless career with a 10-catch, 180-yard outing that included two of Gubrud’s three touchdown passes and accounted for more than half of his 353 passing yards. Bourne, also a senior with NFL aspirations, finished his EWU career with three catches for 119 yards, including the long go-ahead touchdown.

Kupp finished his senior season with a Big Sky single-season record 115 receptions for 1,700 yards, 150 yards short of Brandon Kaufman’s single-season yardage record. He finishes his career with 428 receptions for 6,357 yards and 73 touchdowns. His yardage total is an all-time record for college football, any level and his receptions and touchdowns totals are the most ever by a Division I receiver.

Gubrud’s 353 yards pushed him to 5,160 in his first season as EWU’s starter. The mark breaks former Old Dominion Taylor Heinicke’s 2012 record of 5,076 passing yards in a season. Gubrud finished with 48 touchdown passes but threw two interceptions, his 12^th and 13^th of this season. His 5,766 yards of total offense missed Steve McNair’s (Alcorn State) record of 5,799 in 1994.

Youngstown State finished the game with 506 total yards of offense compared to EWU’s 478. The Penguins notched 27 first downs to EWU’s 19 and possessed the ball for 39:20 in earning YSU’s seventh championship game appearance and first since 1999.

Youngstown State played for six national championships between 1991 and 1999, winning the title in 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1997 under Jim Tressel. Tressel went on to win six Big Ten titles and the 2002 BCS national championship as the head coach at Ohio State between 2001 and 2010.

EWU is now 10-5 under Baldwin in the FCS playoffs. The head coach is now 85-32 in his head coaching career at Eastern Washington.

“I was proud of them before we even kicked off this football game,” Baldwin said. “I’m proud of the way they handled so many situations coming into this season and how they approached and attacked the off-season. One play doesn’t define the effort, the heart, the camaraderie and the culture that this team carried all the way through the season.”