Clark, Howard Named Finalist For FCS National Awards
Clark is a Buchanan Award finalist, while Howard is a finalist for the Walter Payton Award.
For the second day in a row, two members of the Central Connecticut State football program have been named finalists for national awards. Kimal Clark is one of 35 finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award, presented annually to the top defensive player in FCS football. Elijah Howard is one of 35 finalists for the Walter Payton Award, honoring the top offensive FCS player.
Clark, who was on the preseason Buck Buchanan Award Watch List, played up to those expectations for the CCSU defense. He posted a career-best 109 tackles during the campaign and finished the regular season 23rd in the nation with 9.1 tackles per game. His tackle total is the most since Randall Laguerre had 116 tackles in 2016.
A native of Lackawanna, NY Clark had five games with 10 or more tackles, highlighted by a career-high 18 stops in the Blue Devils game at UMass. That effort has helped lead him to a single-season best 59 solo tackles during the year. Clark enters the FCS playoffs with 213 career tackles.
Howard, a native of Knoxville, TN, rushed for 833 yards in his 10 regular season games, ranking 2nd in the NEC at 83.3 yards per game. He finished the regular season 41st nationally by averaging 106.50 all-purpose yards per contest. Over the past four games, all CCSU wins, Howard has rushed for five touchdowns, to bring his season total to eight. Howard is second on the team with 19 receptions and averaged 10.2 yards per catch.
In his second season with the Blue Devils, Howard is on the cusp of moving into the Blue Devils top-10 list for rushing. He has carried the ball 379 times for CCSU and accumulated 1,823 yards on the ground and 13 touchdowns.
On Monday, Christopher Jean, a redshirt freshman, was named one of 25 finalists for the Jerry Rice Award, presented annually to the top rookie in the FCS. Second-year head coach Adam Lechtenberg was named one of 15 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award, presented to the FCS Coach of the Year.
CCSU, 7-5 overall, will travel to Rhode Island on Saturday, to take on the 10th ranked and seeded Rams. Game time, on ESPN+, is set for 12:00 pm.
