Complete Payton Award Release With Voting  |

PHILADELPHIA – Junior wide receiver Erik Lora set the FCS, OVC and EIU single season record for receptions with 136 this season.  On Wednesday he just missed out on an invitation to Philadelphia as he finished fourth in voting for the 2012 Walter Payton Award. 

Teammate Jimmy Garoppolo placed 10th in the voting for the award as the Panthers were the only FCS school to have two candidates listed among the 20 finalists.  Former EIU quarterback Tony Romo won the award which honors the top offensive player in the FCS in 2002.

The three finalists invited to the FCS Awards banquet are Wofford fullback Eric Breitenstein, Old Dominion quarterback Taylor Heinicke and Stony Brook running back Miguel Maysonet.

Lora recently earned Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year honors following his record setting season.  Lora finished the year with 136 receptions which broke the previous FCS record of 123.  He finished with 1,664 yards which is the fourth highest single season total in FCS history.  Along the way Lora set the school record for receptions and receiving yards in a game along with the OVC record for receptions in a game.  Lora had seven games with double figure receptions and two more with nine catches as he averaged 11.3 catches per game, the fourth best single season average in FCS history.  Lora opened the year with seven straight 100-yard receiving games, the most by an FCS receiver since 2000.  He finished with nine 100 yard receiving games.

Garoppolo was the trigger man for the Panthers finishing the season with 3,823 yards passing with 31 touchdowns.  He had six 300-yard games during the season including back-to-back 400-yard passing days against Austin Peay and UT Martin.  Garoppolo was 331-of-540 this season.  Twice during the season he had five touchdown passes in a game including all five touchdown passes over 50-yards against Austin Peay.  Garoppolo set the EIU single season record for pass completions and was second on the EIU charts in passing yards.  He earned second team All-OVC honors.

The Panthers won the OVC regular season title and lost in the first round of the FCS playoffs at South Dakota State.