Five League Quarterbacks Named to College Football Performance Awards Watch List
Southland Conference
FRISCO, Texas – Five Southland Conference quarterbacks were named to the 2014 College Football Performance Awards Watch List for top quarterback at the Division I FCS level. A total of 36 quarterbacks were named to the list, including UIW’s Trent Brittain, Lamar’s Caleb Berry, Nicholls’ Tuskani Figaro, Northwestern State’s Zach Adkins and Southeastern Louisiana’s Bryan Bennett.
Brittain started all 11 games for the Cardinals in 2013 and helped lead the team to its first-ever winning season. He set school records for completions (178), pass attempts (325), passing yards (1,893), touchdowns (11) and most consecutive passes without an interception (106). He also rushed for 392 yards on the season as a red-shirt freshman.
Berry recorded the best single-season performance by a signal caller in Lamar history by setting single-season records for passing yards (3,332), completions (295), touchdown passes (32) and yards of total offense (3,492) as a junior. He also set Lamar single-game records for completions and TD passes during the 2013 season.
Last season, Figaro had a breakout season in his first year as a starter, setting the Colonels' single-season rushing record with 1,103 yards. He accounted for 15 touchdowns, ranked second in the Southland in rushing with 100.3 yards per game and tied a Nicholls’ single-season mark with five 100-yard rushing efforts, which included a 281-yard game. In addition to his running abilities, Figaro passed for 1,135 yards with eight touchdowns, becoming the first Colonel to pass and rush for 1,000 yards in the same season.
Adkins set seven single-season Demon records, including total offense, points responsible for, passing yards, touchdown passes, and completion percentage. He completed 247 of 382 passes for 2,725 yards and 21 touchdowns. His completion percentage of 64.7 ranked 23rd in the FCS, while his yardage total ranked 20th nationally. His pass yardage total broke a 25-year-old Northwestern record and his touchdown passes topped a 45-year-old standard. Adkins added 224 yards rushing and three touchdowns to his totals to give him 2,950 total yards, 24 touchdowns and 144 points last season.
Bennett, the reigning conference player of the year, is coming off a remarkable junior campaign, helping Southeastern to an 11-3 record, the program's first conference championship since 1961 and a run to the quarterfinals in its first-ever berth in the FCS playoffs. Bennett was the catalyst on an explosive Southeastern offense, throwing for 3,165 yards and 21 touchdowns, while also leading the team with 1,046 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns.
The Southland is only one of two conferences to place five players on the initial watch list. The Colonial Athletic Association also has five representatives.
The goal of College Football Performance Awards is to provide the most scientifically rigorous conferment in college football. Recipients are selected exclusively based upon objective scientific rankings of the extent to which individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams. Twenty-eight CFPA winners have been first-round NFL Draft selections.
The CFPA is now entering its seventh season analyzing player and team performance, utilizing objective rankings from its data index since 2008.
Last season, Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams earned the CFPA FCS National Performer of the Year Trophy.
The full list of 2014 CFPA winners will be announced January 14, 2015.