VILLANOVA, Pa.—Sophomore running back David Avit is among 30 offensive players nationwide, including four from CAA Football, who were named to the Walter Payton Award Preseason Watch List on Tuesday afternoon. The watch list was announced by Stats Perform for the annual award which is presented to the national offensive player of the year in Division I FCS college football. This is the second straight year that Villanova has had a player named to the initial watch list fort the Walter Payton Award.
 
Avit is a rising star nationally after he burst on to the collegiate scene as a true freshman last year. He finished third among all FCS freshmen in rushing yards and was named a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award which is presented to the top freshman in the FCS. Avit was the CAA Football Offensive Rookie of the Year and an honorable mention CAA Football All-Conference selection. He is the third player in school history and first non-quarterback to be chosen as a conference Offensive Rookie of the Year. Avit was named to the Phil Steele Freshman All-American second team.
 
The impact that Avit made in his collegiate rookie season was an immediate one. He played in all 14 games of the 2024 season and rushed for a team-high 923 yards while leading the Wildcats with nine rushing touchdowns. Avit showcased his explosive speed on numerous occasions and scored three touchdowns on runs of 25 yards or longer, including a pair of scores from 72 yards out and 59 yards out in the same game against Stony Brook. Those two long touchdowns were part of a career day in which Avit ran for 183 yards and four touchdowns on just 13 carries. It was only the eighth time in school history that one player rushed for four or more scores in a single game.
 
Avit amassed 343 rushing yards and five touchdowns in a two-game span against LIU and Stony Brook in the fifth and sixth contests of his collegiate career. Later in the year, he scored a touchdown in each of the final four games of the regular season to help the Wildcats clinch a postseason berth and eventually reach the second round of the FCS playoffs. His 923 rushing yards on the year are the 14^th-highest single season total in program history.
 
The Walter Payton Award is in its 39^th season and is affectionately known as the Heisman of the FCS. It is named for legendary running back Walter Payton, who starred at Jackson Sate as part of his Hall of Fame career. Villanova has three previous Walter Payton Award winners: wide receiver Brian Finneran (1997); running back Brian Westbrook (2001); and quarterback John Robertson (2014). The only FCS programs with three or more winners of the Walter Payton Award are the Wildcats and Eastern Washington.
 
All 13 FCS conferences are represented on the preseason watch list, which includes nine past finalists. More players can join the watch list before a national media panel selects the winner from a group of finalists after the regular season. The Walter Payton Award was first presented in 1987.
 
This year's award will be announced on January 3, 2026, at the Stats Perform National Awards Presentation in Nashville, Tenn. The presentation will also include the winners of the Buck Buchanan Award (FCS Defensive 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.