Stony Brook senior running back Miguel Maysonet was named to the 20-member Walter Payton Award watch list announced by The Sports Network Thursday. The award is presented annually to the top offensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision. Maysonet was named to the FCS Preseason All-American third team Monday.
As a junior in 2011, Maysonet led the Seawolves' run-based offense, rushing for 15 touchdowns and a Big South Conference- and school-record 1,633 yards. He was named Big South Offensive Player of the Year in a season in which Stony Brook went undefeated in conference play and reached the FCS playoffs for the first time in program history.
"We count on his ability to be consistent and to produce positive plays," Stony Brook coach Chuck Priore said. "He's got great balance, he finishes plays and he gets in the end zone a lot. So certainly he's a very, very big part of what we do."
Maysonet starred at Riverhead High School, winning Newsday's 2008 Hansen Award winner as the best player in Suffolk, before playing his freshman season at Hofstra. When Hofstra dropped its football program, Maysonet transferred to Stony Brook.
Maysonet will be joined in the backfield this season by Marcus Coker, a junior transfer from Iowa who finished second in Big Ten rushing yards with 1,384 (behind Heisman Trophy finalist Montee Ball of Wisconsin). Priore said he expects Coker, who will replace the graduated Brock Jackolski, to make a major impact in Stony Brook's two-back system.
"I think we have two perpetual Payton Watch guys in the backfield when it's all said and done," Priore said. "I think we'll be very hard to defend because we'll always have a fresh back carrying the ball."
Stony Brook also bolstered its offense with the addition of wide receiver Adrian Coxson, a highly touted recruit out of high school who transferred from Florida to Maryland before making the move to Stony Brook.
Stony Brook begins its 2012 season at home against Central Connecticut on Sept. 1.
