CFPA NCAA FCS National Performer of the Year Watch List
 
College Football Performance Awards, the largest awards organization in D-I college football, recently announced its watch list for the 2013 CFPA FCS National Performer of the Year Trophy and 2013 CFPA FCS National Defensive Performer of the Year Award. Thirty-three players earned spots on the FCS National Performer of the Year Trophy Watch List, including Fordham senior running back Carlton Koonce, while thirty-three players earned spots on the FCS National Defensive Performer of the Year Award Watch List.
 

Koonce, who has received a plethora of preseason awards including being named to the 2013 Walter Payton Award Watch List and a preseason All-American, earned First Team All-Patriot League honors in 2012, rushing 300 times for 1,596 yards, breaking the Fordham single season school rushing mark of 1,477 yards set by Kirwin Watson in 2003. He also led the Rams with 13 rushing touchdowns and was second on the team with 48 receptions for 313 yards and two scores.

 
Koonce led the Patriot League and was fourth in the NCAA FCS in rushing yards/game (145.1) and had two 200-yard games in 2012, including a 250-yard contest at Columbia where he tied a Patriot League record with a 92-yard touchdown run. Koonce also led the Patriot League and was sixth in the NCAA FCS in all-purpose yards/game, averaging 173.6/contest.
 
More than 130 CFPA recipients have signed professional contracts, and twenty-one have been first-round NFL Draft selections. All CFPA recipients are selected exclusively based upon objective scientific rankings of the extent to which individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams. All players are eligible for recognition at their respective positions; players are not preemptively eliminated from consideration.
 
Last season, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel earned the 2012 CFPA National Performer of the Year Trophy for the FBS, while Harvard quarterback Colton Chapple earned the 2012 CFPA FCS National Performer of the Year Trophy. Multiple award presentations were broadcast live nationally on ESPN, CBS, Fox Sports, Big Ten Network, Pac 12 Network, as well as internationally on BYUtv. Other past CFPA FCS Performers of the Year include: Pat Devlin (Delaware, 2010), Taylor Heinicke (Old Dominion, 2011), Tyler Holmes (Massachusetts, 2010), Ryan Davis (Bethune-Cookman, 2011), and Caleb Schreibeis (Montana State, 2012).
 
The 2012 CFPA FCS National Performer of the Year Trophy was presented at the 2013 Harvard-Yale men's basketball game. The full list of 2013 recipients, including the 2013 CFPA FCS Awards, will be announced on January 8, 2014.
 
For more information, visit the Official CFPA Website (http://www.collegefootballperformance.com). Follow CFPA on Twitter @CFPerformance.