Atkinson Finishes Among Top 5 In Voting For Walter Payton Award
12/2/2025 12:37:00 PM | Football
MACON – Freshman Braden Atkinson continued to see the fruits of a standout rookie campaign on Tuesday morning when it was announced that he finished among the top 5 in voting for the 2025 Walter Payton Award which is presented annually to the national offensive player of the year in FCS college football.
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Atkinson, a Rolesville, N.C., product picked up a pair of first-place votes, five second-place votes and a quintet of third-place votes on the way to 48 points and a fifth-place standing in the final vote tally. The top three candidates – quarterbacks Beau Brungard (Youngstown State), Taron Dickens (Western Carolina) and Cole Payton (North Dakota State) – as well as running back Joshua Dye (Southern Utah) made up the rest of the top 5.
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The fifth-place finish is the highest for a Mercer student-athlete, besting out the 14h-place (tie) finish by wide receiver Devron Harper in the voting for the 2022 award. Wide receiver Ty James finished in a tie for 21st in 2023, while running back Dwayne McGee was 16th in voting for the 2024 award.
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Atkinson has completed 68.1 percent (250-for-367) of his pass attempts this season and has already broken school single-season records for passing completions (250), attempts (367), yards (3,448) and touchdowns (34). He has thrown for 300 or more yards in eight of his 10 starts this season, including a school record 533 yards amid Mercer's 62-0 home win over VMI on October 25.
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He has, thrice, matched the program's single-game superlative for passing touchdowns with five scoring tosses against Samford, VMI and Chattanooga.
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Atkinson currently ranks second among all FCS signal callers in passing yards, passing yards per game (344.8), passing touchdowns and completions per game (25.00), while ranking third, nationally, in points responsible for per game (21.0), total offense per game (345.8) and yards per pass attempt (9.40).
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The sixth-seeded Bears (9-2, 8-0 SoCon) will begin their road in the NCAA postseason on Saturday when they suit up to take on 11th-seeded South Dakota (9-4) in the second round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs. Kickoff has been scheduled for noon at Five Star Stadium.
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Tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.
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Atkinson, a Rolesville, N.C., product picked up a pair of first-place votes, five second-place votes and a quintet of third-place votes on the way to 48 points and a fifth-place standing in the final vote tally. The top three candidates – quarterbacks Beau Brungard (Youngstown State), Taron Dickens (Western Carolina) and Cole Payton (North Dakota State) – as well as running back Joshua Dye (Southern Utah) made up the rest of the top 5.
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The fifth-place finish is the highest for a Mercer student-athlete, besting out the 14h-place (tie) finish by wide receiver Devron Harper in the voting for the 2022 award. Wide receiver Ty James finished in a tie for 21st in 2023, while running back Dwayne McGee was 16th in voting for the 2024 award.
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Atkinson has completed 68.1 percent (250-for-367) of his pass attempts this season and has already broken school single-season records for passing completions (250), attempts (367), yards (3,448) and touchdowns (34). He has thrown for 300 or more yards in eight of his 10 starts this season, including a school record 533 yards amid Mercer's 62-0 home win over VMI on October 25.
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He has, thrice, matched the program's single-game superlative for passing touchdowns with five scoring tosses against Samford, VMI and Chattanooga.
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Atkinson currently ranks second among all FCS signal callers in passing yards, passing yards per game (344.8), passing touchdowns and completions per game (25.00), while ranking third, nationally, in points responsible for per game (21.0), total offense per game (345.8) and yards per pass attempt (9.40).
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The sixth-seeded Bears (9-2, 8-0 SoCon) will begin their road in the NCAA postseason on Saturday when they suit up to take on 11th-seeded South Dakota (9-4) in the second round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs. Kickoff has been scheduled for noon at Five Star Stadium.
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Tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.
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