Tommy Mellott’s remarkable career reached a new milestone on Saturday night when he was named the winner of the 2024 Walter Payton Award, given to the best offensive player in the FCS.
Mellott received the honor at the FCS national awards banquet at the Hyatt Regency in Frisco. He was selected as the winner over finalists Cam Miller (QB, North Dakota State) and Targhee Lambson (RB, Southern Utah).
Mellott is the second player from Montana’s NCAA Division I FCS schools to win the prestigious award. The first was University of Montana quarterback Dave Dickenson, who won it in 1995. Mellott is also the first player from Montana State University to receive the award.
“It’s a surreal moment for sure,” Mellott said. “Three years ago I was on the sideline after being injured in the national championship game, and I was talking on the mic to the quarterback coach at the time, coach (Taylor) Housewright, and he said, ‘If you don’t become the Walter Payton Award winner, we failed you.’
So I think it’s just a testament to what we’ve done as a program.
“But just having the opportunity to be out here today and be representing obviously such a great award, and winning it is a great honor. So (it’s a) very humbling moment, and I’m very, very honored to have it.”
Mellott, who is from Butte, is the 27th quarterback to win the Walter Payton Award and the eighth in a row. He is also the 10th player from the Big Sky Conference to earn the award and the first since Eastern Washington’s Eric Barriere in 2021.
This season, Mellott has had an impressive performance over 15 games, completing 68.8% of his passes for 2,564 yards, with 29 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He also rushed for 915 yards and 14 touchdowns, averaging 8.4 yards per carry.
NDSU’s Miller has thrown for 3,052 yards, 31 touchdowns, and four interceptions while rushing for 510 yards and 10 touchdowns. Southern Utah’s Lambson led the FCS in rushing yards with 1,922 and 23 touchdowns.
Mellott’s Walter Payton Award is the second national FCS honor he has received in the past two years. Last year, he won the Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete Award.
Earlier on Saturday, he was named the NCAA’s Elite 90 Award winner, which goes to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the final site for each of the NCAA’s 90 championships. Mellott has a perfect 4.0 GPA in financial engineering at MSU.
Also on Saturday, Central Arkansas defensive end David Walker won the Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player in the FCS.
Montana State’s head coach, Brent Vigen, was also honored as the 2024 Eddie Robinson Award winner for FCS Coach of the Year, becoming the first Bobcat coach to earn the award.
Mellott is the third Montana State player to win one of the major FCS MVP awards, following Caleb Schreibeis and Brad Daly, who won the Buck Buchanan Award in 2012 and 2013. Last season, Montana running back Eli Gillman won the Jerry Rice Award as the best freshman in the FCS.
Other Payton Award winners from the Big Sky Conference include Idaho’s John Friesz (1989), Weber State’s Jamie Martin (1991), Idaho’s Doug Nussmeier (1993), Northern Arizona’s Archie Amerson (1996), and Eastern Washington’s Erik Meyer (2005), Bo Levi Mitchell (2011), and Cooper Kupp (2015).
Other national winners for this season include North Carolina Central kicker/punter Juan Velarde, who won the Doris Robinson Award, NDSU running back CharMar Brown, who won the Jerry Rice Award, and South Carolina State quarterback Eric Phoenix, who was named the inaugural HBCU+ National Player of the Year, recognizing the best player from the 21 FCS programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Mellott and Montana State (15-0) will play North Dakota State (13-2) in the FCS National Championship game on Monday night at Toyota Stadium. The game will start at 5 p.m. Mountain Time and will be broadcast on ESPN.
