Sept. 28, 2011
Philadelphia, Pa. - Redshirt freshman Eriq Lewis (Washington, D.C.) is among the 15 freshmen comprising the first Watch List for the inaugural Jerry Rice Award.
The Rice Award, presented by The Sports Network and sponsored by Fathead.com, will honor the outstanding freshman in the Football Championship Subdivision. A national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries will select the award winner after the regular season. The legendary Rice, who played in the FCS (then Division I-AA) at Mississippi Valley State, will present the award at the national awards banquet on Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas.
The first Watch List features:
* Two quarterbacks: Jerry Lovelocke of Prairie View A&M and Greg McGhee of Howard;
* Five running backs: Andre Clarke of North Carolina Central, David Johnson of Northern Iowa, Ross Scheuerman of Lafayette, Jordan Talley of Eastern Washington and Shaun Warren of Western Carolina;
* Two wide receivers: R.J. Harris of New Hampshire and Brandon White of San Diego;
* Three linebackers: Michael Dallas II of the Morgan State, D'Vonte Grant of North Carolina A&T and Dillon Lucas of Villanova;
* Two cornerbacks: Eriq Lewis of Old Dominion and Zachary Senvisky of Morehead State;
* One punter: Garrett Mohr of Jacksonville.
The new award allows Rice to join three other football legends whose names adorn the top individual awards in the FCS: the Walter Payton (FCS outstanding player) and Eddie Robinson (FCS coach of the year) awards, which are celebrating their 25th anniversaries this season, and the Buck Buchanan Award (FCS outstanding defensive player) - each sponsored by Fathead.com.
Through the Monarchs' first four games of the 2011 season, Lewis has started all four games at cornerback racking up 20 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, along with six pass break-ups and an interception.