The Sports Network announced on Wednesday that the Jerry Rice Award will be given to the top freshman player in the country in the Football Championship Sub-Division Series this coming fall.

The award is named after Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice, acknowledged as one of the greatest players in football history. Rice is joining three other football legends whose names adorn the top individual awards in the FCS: the Walter Payton Award, which goes to the most outstanding player, the Eddie Robinson Award, which goes to the FCS coach of the year, and the Buck Buchanan Award, which goes to the FCS outstanding defensive player.
A national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries will select the winner of the first Jerry Rice Award after the 2011 regular season to be announced at the 25th annual FCS Awards Banquet and Presentation, which will be held in Frisco, Texas, on the eve of the NCAA Division I Football Championship. The NCAA will announce the date of the championship game this spring.
Quarterback Armanti Edwards of Appalachian State University and linebacker Dexter Coakley of the Mountaineers are the only two-time winners of the Walter Payton and Buck Buchanan Awards, respectively. Edwards won the Payton Award in 2008 and 2009; Coakley won the Buchanan Award in 1995 and 1996. ASU coach Jerry Moore won the Eddie Robinson Award in 2006.