Football | 12/5/2022 1:30:00 PM
Utah Tech sophomore wide receiver
Joey Hobert finished ninth in the voting for the 2022 Stats Perform Walter Payton Award, which honors the top offensive player of the year in college football's NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
Hobert (5-11, 180; San Clemente, Calif./San Juan HS/Washington State) was the leading vote getter among the six wide receivers featured on the 30-player finalist list. Hobert collected 17 points in the final balloting and received one second-place vote, two third-place votes, one fourth-place vote and five fifth-place votes.
The sophomore receiver earned First Team all-Western Athletic Conference honors after he closed the 2022 regular season as the FCS national leader in receiving yards (1,258) and touchdown receptions (16). He also finished the regular season ranked second in the country overall in receiving yards (114.4 ypg) and receptions (8.2 rpg) per game, all of which were new UT school single season records.
Hobert also broke school records and finished second in the WAC and 17
th-nationally (regular season) in both all-purpose yards (1,474) and all-purpose yards/game (134.00 ypg).
Hobert posted a school-record eight 100-yard receiving games, three of which came in WAC play, highlighted by a school-record tying three touchdowns and 109 yards in the Trailblazers' road win at eventual WAC champion Stephen F. Austin (10/29). The sophomore announced his presence with authority in his UT debut when he caught 11 passes for 183 yards and one TD in the season opener at current No. 2 Sacramento State (9/3).
He also had 10 catches for 140 yards and two scores in Utah Tech's home finale vs. Tarleton State (11/12), and closed the year with a pair of touchdowns and 100 receiving yards in the 2022 season finale at BYU (11/19). In all, Hobert posted double digit catches in four games overall and caught at least one TD pass in 10 of Utah Tech's 11 games this season.
The finalists for the 2022 Walter Payton Award are quarterbacks Tim DeMorat of Fordham and Lindsey Scott Jr. of Incarnate Word, and running back Jaden Shirden of Monmouth.
A 54-member panel voted on the 36th annual award after the regular season. The announcement of the recipient will be made at the FCS National Awards banquet on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas.
The Payton Award, which was first presented in 1987 and in its 36th season, is named for legendary running back Walter Payton, who starred at Jackson State as part of his Hall of Fame career.
Past Payton Award recipients include Steve McNair, Tony Romo, Brian Westbrook, Jimmy Garoppolo, Cooper Kupp and Trey Lance, along with former Weber State quarterback Jamie Martin, who became the first and only Utah college football player to win the award in 1991.
Utah Tech won three of its final four games of the season to close with a 4-7 overall record in its third D-I FCS campaign, which included a 2-2 mark and a third place WAC finish.
