football-fcs flag

Stan Becton | krikya18.com | January 4, 2025

Montana State's Tommy Mellott wins the 2024 Walter Payton Award

Montana State vs. South Dakota: 2024 FCS semifinal highlights
Montana State quarterback Tommy Mellott won the 2024 Walter Payton Award as the best offensive player in FCS football, beating out fellow top-three finalists Cam Miller (North Dakota State) and Targhee Lambson (Southern Utah). Mellott is the first Montana State player to win the award in its 38-year history.

PAYTON AWARD: Complete history of the top FCS offensive honor

Mellott received the Payton Award two days before playing in the 2024-25 FCS Championship game, his second appearance of his career. In 12 regular season games, the Bobcat quarterback completed 148 of 216 passes (68.5 percent) for 1,956 yards, 22 touchdowns and just one interceptions. He also ran for 640 yards and 11 touchdowns, leading Montana State to an undefeated record.

🏈 MORE FCS FOOTBALL 🏈 
🚨 
πŸŽ₯
🍎 

Mellott is the 27th quarterback to win the Payton Award β€” the most of any position β€” since the award debuted in 1987. Quarterbacks have won the Payton Award in each of the last nine seasons and 20 of the last 21 seasons, with wide receiver Cooper Kupp's 2015 win being the lone exception.

As the 2024 Walter Payton Award winner, Mellott joins an elite fraternity of FCS greats including Steve McNair (Alcorn State, 1994), Adrian Peterson (Georgia Southern, 1999), Brian Westbrook (Villanova, 2001), Tony Romo (Eastern Illinois, 2002), Cooper Kupp (Eastern Washington, 2015) and more.

MORE AWARDS: Buck Buchanan Award history | Jerry Rice Award history

Top moments

See some more of Mellott's top moments from 2024 below.

🏈FCS FOOTBALL HISTORY🏈

πŸ† Championships: Championship history | Winningest teams | Schools with the most titles
πŸ₯‡ Awards: Walter Payton | Buck Buchanan | Jerry Rice
🀯 FCS-over-FBS upsets: All-time history | Upset blueprint
✊ HBCU: Championship history | Greatest individual players
🐐 Careers in review: Kupp | Wentz | Lance | Garappolo | Heinicke | Leonard | Watson
πŸ‘€ Top-5 all-time players: North Dakota State | Montana | Eastern Washington | Harvard | Yale | Villanova | Delaware
βš”οΈ Rivalries: The Game | The Rivalry | Brawl of the Wild | Dakota Marker | Florida Classic | Bayou Classic | Oldest rivalries
🏟 STADIUMS: The 25 biggest FCS stadiums | The 10 oldest stadiums
😱 RECORDS: 7 unbreakable FCS records | The longest CFB field goal

 

.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.

How North Dakota State and Montana State reached the FCS national championship game

As the Bison and Bobcats near the pinnacle of the sport, let's take a look back at their journeys.
READ MORE

1 reason why each FCS semifinal team can win the title

In 2024, the final four FCS teams all have legitimate shots at winning it all. Here’s why.
READ MORE

What a championship would mean for each FCS semifinal team

Four teams remain in the 2024 FCS championship chase: Montana State, South Dakota, South Dakota State and North Dakota State. Winning a title means something different for each one.
READ MORE