The Buck Buchanan Award is presented to the national defensive player of the year in FCS college football. Three of the 30 finalists have been invited to the 2025 announcement.
The FCS tackles leader and two dominating pass rushers have been invited to the announcement of the 2025 Buck Buchanan Award, which will be presented to the national defensive player of the year in the Division I subdivision.
The Buck Buchanan Award, in its 31st season, is down from 30 finalists across 13 FCS conferences to Fordham linebacker James Conway and defensive ends Joshua Stoneking of Furman and Andrew Zock of Mercer. The recipient, selected after the regular season by a national voting panel, will be announced at the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Show on Jan. 3 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Conway, a 6-foot-2 grad student from Omaha, Nebraska, had 159 tackles in 12 regular season games – he also leads the FCS in per-game average (13.3) – as well as 8.0 tackles for loss, 5.0 sacks, one interception, one forced fumble and three pass breakups. Seasonal defensive statistics in the NCAA Record Book date to 2000, but Conway’s 595 career tackles are recognized as the Division I and FCS all-time highs.
Stoneking, a 6-3, 264-pound redshirt sophomore from Raleigh, North Carolina, had FCS regular-season highs in sacks (14.5), TFLs (23.0) and TFL yards for loss (132). He had at least one TFL in 11 of 12 games, and he matched his season high of 10 tackles out of 79 overall in the other game. He also totaled nine quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups and one blocked kick.
Zock, a 6-2, 250-pound sophomore from Citra, Florida, received the Southern Conference’s defensive player of the year award, helping Mercer to its second consecutive outright championship. He had 41 tackles, 20.0 sacks for 109 yards in losses, 11.5 TFLs and 22 QB hurries, adding in two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and three pass breakups. The Bears are the No. 6 seed in the FCS playoffs.
The Buck Buchanan Award is named for legendary defensive lineman Junious “Buck” Buchanan, who starred at Grambling State as part of his Hall of Fame career. Its past recipients include Dexter Coakley, Rashean Mathis, Jared Allen and Arthur Moats.
2025 Buck Buchanan Award Voting
Following is a breakdown of the voting results (top three to be announced on Jan. 3). A first-place vote was worth five points, a second-place vote four points, a third-place vote three points, a fourth-place vote two points and a fifth-place vote one point. The final number is the combined point total.
1, 2, 3 TBA (Jan. 3) between James Conway, Joshua Stoneking and Andrew Zock 4. Caden Dowler, Montana State: 5-3-4-5-6-65 5. Lando Brown, Southern Utah: 2-5-5-7-1-60 6. A.J. Pena, Rhode Island: 5-1-4-7-3-58 7. Kaleb Proctor, Southeastern Louisiana: 5-1-4-4-0-49 8. Tye Niekamp, Illinois State: 4-3-2-1-2-42 9. Maximum Pulley, Wofford: 2-2-1-3-5-32 10. Erick Hunter, Morgan State: 1-2-3-1-2-26 11. Tyler Ochojski, Lehigh: 0-3-1-2-4-23 12. David Hoage, West Georgia: 1-1-1-3-3-21 13. Kimal Clark, Indiana State: 1-1-1-3-1-19 14. Logan Kopp, North Dakota State: 0-2-1-2-2-17 15. Abu Kamara, Yale: 0-1-3-0-2-15 16. Sean Allison, Drake: 1-0-1-2-1-13 T17: Luke Banbury, William & Mary: 1-1-0-1-1-12 T17. Theron Gaines, Tennessee Tech: 0-0-3-0-3-12 19. Jarod Washington, South Carolina State: 1-1-0-0-1-10 20. Jaco Psyk, UC Davis: 0-1-1-1-0-9 21. Quincy Ivory, Jackson State: 0-2-0-0-0-8 T22. Jaydon Southard, Stephen F. Austin: 0-1-0-0-1-5 T22. Shane Hartzell, Villanova: 0-0-1-0-2-5 24. Robert Holz, Gardner-Webb: 0-1-0-0-0-4 25. Rashon Myles Jr., Abilene Christian: 0-0-1-0-0-3 26. Kasyus Kurns, Tarleton State: 0-0-0-1-0-2 T27. Jack Stoll, Central Connecticut State: 0-0-0-0-0-0 T27. Jalen Jones, William & Mary: 0-0-0-0-0-0 T27. Nate Robinson Jr., Marist: 0-0-0-0-0-0 T27. Ty Bartrum, Harvard: 0-0-0-0-0-0In addition to the Buck Buchanan Award, the Walter Payton Award (FCS Offensive Player of the Year), Jerry Rice Award (FCS Freshman Player of the Year), Eddie Robinson Award (FCS Coach of the Year), HBCU National Player of the Year and Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be presented at the Stats Perform FCS National Awards Show
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