Stony Brook's star running back Miguel Maysonet may not have won the Walter Payton Award – an honor given to the best offensive player in the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision – but he's still tops in the hearts of many who love the game.
"He's worked at being better at everything he does," head football coach Chuck Priore told Newsday on Sunday. Priore finished in 7th place in the coach of the year standings.
Maysonet, a product of Riverhead, was one of the three finalists for the award. He finished with 284 points, including 13 first-place votes, behind Old Dominion's sophomore quarterback Taylor Heinicke (531 points, 72 first place votes).
Maysonet arrived at Stony Brook by way of Hofstra, which shuttered its football program before his sophomore year. According to GoSeawolves.org, he concluded his final season as the leading running back in school history with 1,964 yards – also the 11th most yards in a season in FCS history – with 23 touchdowns scored. This season, he had three games with 200 or more yards, and was named a first-team All American by College Sports Madness. Newsday previously reported that Maysonet even caught the eye of NFL scouts.
On Sunday, Maysonet told Newsday he wasn't disappointed with the outcome, saying he had a feeling things would go this way.
"Being here was a humbling feeling," he said. "It was exciting to be in the last three. In my mind, that's winning in my eyes to be here with these two great football players. Awards come and go ... This award isn't going to define who I am and what I did for Stony Brook football."
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