Congrats Jimmy Garoppolo!!! FCS Heisman Winner (Walter Payton Award Recipient)
Heads up, Tony Romo, there is another Eastern Illinois quarterback coming to the NFL.
And Jimmy Garoppolo is bringing his Walter Payton Award with him.
Monday night, Garoppolo became the second Payton Award winner from Eastern Illinois, an Ohio Valley Conference school, following in Romo’s footsteps by beating out Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams and Towson running back Terrance West in the voting for FCS outstanding player honors..
A 6-foot-3, 222-pound senior and perhaps the leading offensive candidate from the FCS for the 2014 NFL Draft, Garoppolo gained just more than half of the first-place votes — 74 of 147 — and 576 points from a national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries. Vernon Adams of Eastern Washington was second with 446 points and Towson’s running back Terrence West was third with 370.
Garoppolo has been invited to the East/West Shrine Game in St. Petersburg, Florida that will take place at Tropicana Field on January 18th, 2014.
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