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Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - A player doesn't become a Walter Payton
Award finalist without being able to face a challenge.
While this year's finalists try to avoid tackles on the field, Eastern
Washington senior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, the 2011 winner of the Payton
Award (sponsored by Fathead.com) which goes to the outstanding player in the
FCS, and the two runners-up, Lehigh senior quarterback Chris Lum and Indiana
State sophomore running back Shakir Bell, are anxious to tackle their upcoming
challenges.
After receiving the 25th Payton Award last Friday in Frisco, Texas, Mitchell
remained in the Dallas area this week to train with Olympic champion sprinter
Michael Johnson in preparation for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl on Jan. 21 in
Carson, Calif.
While the Payton Award honors players for their collegiate achievements, it
isn't necessarily indicative of a player's professional potential.
But the combination of Mitchell being a former FBS starter (at SMU), leading
Eastern Washington to the 2010 FCS championship, and winning the Payton is an
undeniable resume. He threw for 11,595 yards and 106 touchdowns in his four-
year career.
Still, how Mitchell performs before NFL scouts and, he hopes, in a training
camp, will hold the most weight.
"Hopefully, I'll go out there and impress somebody," he said, looking forward
to the NFLPA game.
While FCS players often have to overcome a small-school stigma with the NFL,
the CFL has been a nice landing spot for past Big Sky Conference standouts.
Two of the last four Buck Buchanan Award (sponsored by Fathead.com) winners,
Greg Peach in 2008 and J.C. Sherritt in 2010, have gone from being Eastern
Washington teammates to CFL teammates.
"They told me, 'You have what it takes. What it comes down to is what kind of
person you are,'" Mitchell said. "If you really want to be at that level, it's
a different kind of work ethic. It's a different experience where you push
yourself hard through college and get through all those troubles, but it's
beyond that, it's even harder than that. So it's about being able to push
yourself past those levels, past that hump, past that mountain you think
you've already climbed. Going through that, it's going to be an experience.
I'm excited for it."
Lum faces even longer odds than Mitchell. He's not only coming from an FCS
program, but one that plays in a smaller FCS conference, the Patriot League.
The ringing endorsement for Lum isn't just that he threw for an FCS-high 4,378
yards this season, but that he led Lehigh to a road playoff win for the second
straight season. Heady stuff, indeed.
Similar to Mitchell, Lum has drawn off the experience of a former teammate,
Will Rackley, who was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round
last year, as well as others.
"I've been in contact with him," Lum said. "People who are friends of friends.
My coach has some contacts, too, that he's helping me network a little bit.
"I just about decided on my agent. I'm just really looking forward to getting
some serious training done with a quarterback coach and a strength coach. I'm
just really going to take it serious. At the same time, I'm going to be
finishing my degree."
Bell is working toward his degree, too. He has two more years to build off a
sophomore season in which he was the FCS rushing leader (151.8 ypg).
The biggest challenge facing Bell is helping Indiana State get past its 6-5
level of the past two seasons. Those records are a big achievement for the
formerly downtrodden program, but Bell and the Sycamores have a certain bucket
list whose next checks would be a playoff berth and a Missouri Valley Football
Conference championship (although the Missouri Valley is home to the new
national champion, North Dakota State).
"It's one of the greatest experiences I've ever experienced in my life," Bell
said, looking back on being at the FCS awards presentation and championship
game week. "I'm here with some great guys, great competition. I'm going to
remember this for a long time. Hopefully, I'll be back here next year."
The Sports Network