Three SoCon Players Invited to the 2025 FCS Awards

Stats Perform Buck Buchanan release

Stats Perform Walter Payton release

Furman's Stoneking Earns Invite To 2025 Buck Buchanan Award Announcement

Stoneking, a 6-foot-3, 264-pound redshirt sophomore from Raleigh, N.C., had FCS regular season highs in sacks (14.5), tackles for loss (23.0), and tackle yards for loss (132). He had at least one TFL in 11 of 12 games, and he matched his season high of 10 tackles out of 79 overall in the other game. He also totaled nine quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups, and one blocked kick.

His 14.5 sacks accounted for 56 percent of Furman's 26 total sacks, and his 23 tackles for loss represented 33.3 percent of the Paladins' tackles for loss this season — by far the highest percentages among SoCon defenders.

He was named Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Week a league best three times this fall and was accorded all-conference honors in voting by league head coaches.

Mercer's Zock Earns Invite To Nashville As Finalist For Buck Buchanan Award

With the announcement, Zock becomes the second Mercer student-athlete in as many years to earn an invite to the annual awards ceremony.
 
Zock has totaled 41 tackles (23 solo), including a school record 20.0 tackles for loss (-109 yards), across 11 starts this season, while also turning in 22 quarterback hurries, three pass break-ups, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He has also logged a single season school record sack total (11.5). He has tallied multiple tackles for loss in seven outings, including a season-best 4-1/2 drops behind the line in Mercer's Week 3 win over Wofford.
 
The Citra, Fla., native has accumulated 34-1/2 tackles for loss (18-1/2 sacks) in two seasons and 25 games in the Orange & Black. He also boasts a school record 36 quarterback hurries.

Western Carolina's Taron Dickens Invited to 2025 Walter Payton Award Announcement

Western Carolina redshirt sophomore quarterback  Taron Dickens , who led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in five of the top offensive statistical categories through nine regular-season games, has been invited to the announcement of the 2025 Walter Payton Award.
 
The 2025 award recipient, selected after the regular season by a 56-member national voting panel, will be announced at the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Show on Jan. 3,  at the Woolworth Theatre  in Nashville, Tenn., the site of the NCAA FCS National Championship game.
 
The Roy M. "Legs" Hawley Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-SoCon selection, Dickens ranked No. 1 in the FCS in total passing yards (3,508) despite three fewer games than most other candidates. He also paced the country in passing yards per game (389.8), completion percentage (74.2), total offensive yards per game (425.4), and touchdown passes with a school and SoCon single-season record 38.
 
The first Catamount football player to ever earn an invite to the national postseason awards ceremony, Dickens will be joined in the Music City by Youngstown State quarterback Beau Brungard and QB Cole Payton of North Dakota State as  the top three in the final vote count . Brungard and Payton both compete in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC).