TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Shawn Powell, Florida State’s first consensus All-American punter and the school’s all-time leader in multiple punting categories, is the winner of the College Football Performance Awards 2011 Performer of the Year Award.

Powell, the Football Bowl Subdivision national leader with a 47-yard average, will accept his award at halftime of tonight’s Florida State-Virginia Tech men’s basketball game.

Brad Smith, Executive Director of the College Football Performance Awards, will present Powell with the 22-inch optic crystal tower, topped with an 8-inch crystal football. They will be joined on the court by Powell’s mother and father – Larry and Kellie – and Florida State special teams coordinator Eddie Gran.

Smith’s organization is unique in that it honors college football’s top player based exclusively on objective, scientific data that assesses which individuals increase the overall effectiveness of their teams.

On more than one occasion during the Seminoles’ 2011 campaign, Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher, acknowledged that Powell may well be the team’s most valuable player.

Powell, who is currently training at his home in Rome, Ga. for next week’s NFL Combine, and Smith will be available for interviews at the conclusion of the brief awards presentation.

Powell Notes:

·                     Punted 57 times for 2,681 yards and a 47.0 average

·                     Had 24 punts of 50 or more yards; 23 punts downed inside the 20

·                     Forced 7 fair catches

·                     Finished his career as FSU’s all-time leader with a 44.2 average (168-7,424), smashing Rohn Stark’s previous mark of 42.7

·                     Ranks fifth all-time in ACC for career punting average

·                     Set the single-season school record for average (47.0)

·                     Did not have a punt blocked in 168 career attempts

·                     Was selected first-team All-ACC (the first for an FSU punter)

·                     Earned first-team All-American honors from the Walter Camp Foundation and the American Football Coaches Association, as well as ESPN.com and Rivals.com

·                     Was the CFPA Performer of the Week once and a five-time honorable mention choice in 2011

Three years later, McQuaide, an Elder grad, is in his first year with the Rams, who play the Bengals today in St. Louis.

“Mike was one of the first guys to put in my head that I could make it in the NFL,” McQuaide said this week. “You can hear it from a lot of people, but to hear it from someone who was in the league and knows what it takes gives you a lot of confidence.”

Read more.

NEW YORK,

A 6-9, 235-pound forward out of North Carolina State, Costner led Los Angeles to a 2-1 record for the week, averaging 28.3 points and 5.0 rebounds.

Costner, the league’s fourth leading scorer on the season (24.6 ppg), scored a season-high 42 points, including 18 in the first quarter, in a 97-90 loss against the Idaho Stampede Dec. 10. In back-to-back victories over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Costner averaged 21.5 points, including a team-high 24 in the D-Fenders’ 117-113 home win Dec. 7.

Other top performers considered include the Vipers’ Stanley Asumnu, who averaged 21.3 points and 10.5 rebounds, and Marshall Brown, who averaged 23.5 points and 7.0 rebounds; the Fort Wayne Mad Ants’ Corey Allmond, who averaged 22.0 points and 4.3 rebounds; the Erie BayHawks’ Tirrell Baines, who averaged 25.0 points and 10.5 rebounds; the Dakota Wizards’ Maurice Baker, who averaged 14.5 points and 10.0 rebounds; the Springfield Armor’s Lance Hurdle, who averaged 27.5 points and 5.5 rebounds; the Stampede’s Willie Jenkins, who averaged 19.5 points and 5.0 rebounds; the D-Fenders’ Elijah Millsap, who averaged 24.5 points and 6.5 rebounds; the Sioux Falls Skyforce’s Billy McShepard, who averaged 16.0 points and 10.0 rebounds; the Tulsa 66ers’ Nkem Ojougboh, who averaged 14.5 rebounds and 12.0 rebounds;  the Bakersfield Jam’s David Palmer, who averaged 16.5 points and 14.5 rebounds; the Reno Bighorns’ Terrance Thomas, who averaged 18.0 points and 14.0 rebounds; and the Texas Legends’ Booker Woodfox, who averaged 22.0 points.

The NBA Development League, founded in 2001, is the NBA’s official minor league. Featuring 16 teams with direct affiliations to NBA franchises, the NBA D-League is a proven developer of talent: 23 percent of players in the NBA at the conclusion of the 2010-11 season boasted NBA D-League experience, and the league continues to develop coaches, referees, and front-office staff for the NBA and its teams. In fostering the league’s connection to the community, its teams, players and staff promote health and wellness, support local needs and interests, and assist in educational development through NBA D-League Cares programs. The NBA D-League also advances the game of basketball as the research and development arm of the NBA. Throughout the league’s upcoming 11^th season, fans can watch all NBA D-League games on NBA FUTURECAST, the free live Web-streaming initiative found at nba.com/futurecast.

Watch video.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t make the NFL just because you come from a small school.

Read more.

On Tuesday at 5 p.m., Kicker Matt Bryant, punter Matt Bosher and long snapper Joe Zelenka will be serving food, signing autographs and taking photographs throughout the evening for 250 women and children from My Sister’s House, the women’s and children’s facility of the Atlanta Mission.

Read more.

Fox Sports Ohio
Along with Browns punter Reggie Hodges, friend Jonathan Pippin and a group of other investors that includes New England Patriots running back Danny Woodhead Read more

Photo: Charlie Riedel / AP