Eastern Washington University senior quarterback Eric Barriere has been invited to the announcement of the 2021 Stats Perform Walter Payton Award, presented to the national offensive player of the year in Division I FCS, in Frisco, Texas, on Friday, Jan. 7.

Along with Barriere, Southeastern Louisiana quarterback Cole Kelley and ETSU running back Quay Holmes are also invited. The trio was among 25 finalists for the award, named for the legendary running back and celebrating its 35th anniversary season. The winner, selected by a 50-member, national media panel after the regular season, will be announced at the FCS National Awards Banquet in Frisco, Texas, with a broadcast of the festivities to begin airing the next day, Jan. 8, on Bally Sports Regional Networks.
Kelley received the Payton Award following the 2020 season, edging Barriere, the runner-up, in the voting. Holmes also was a finalist, finishing 13th.

Former Eagle Cooper Kupp was EWU's latest recipient in 2015, with other former Eagles honored including Erik Meyer (2005) and Bo Levi Mitchell (2011).
 
Barriere just wrapped up his illustrious career with Eastern Washington in the Second Round of the FCS playoffs, helping the Eagles finish 10-3 overall with a 6-2 mark in Big Sky Conference play. He ended his tenure at EWU third all-time in the FCS in total offense (15,394), third in passing yards (13,809) and tied for fourth in passing touchdowns (121), all of which are also Eastern Washington and Big Sky Conference career records
 
Barriere had 31 performances of at least 300 yards of total offense and 22 with at least 300 yards passing in his 51 games as an Eagle. He has had 17 with at least 400 yards of total offense and 11 with at least 400 passing, including school records of 600 yards passing (No. 8 in FCS history & No. 5 in BSC history), 577 yards of total offense, seven touchdown passes and eight TD's responsible for versus Idaho on Oct. 16, 2021. He now owns five of the top six passing performances in school history, and five of the top seven performances for total offense.
 
In his career he has completed 62.0 percent of his passes (1007-of-1623), good for 13,809 yards, 121 touchdowns and 29 interceptions, and has rushed 376 times for 1,585 yards and 22 more TDs (a school-record total of 143 touchdowns accounted for). His touchdown passes, passing yardage and 15,394 yards of offense are all school and Big Sky records.
 
After setting two new school records of 47 completions and 80 attempts in EWU's second-round matchup at Montana, Barriere now owns the school record for career completions (1,007) and career pass attempts (1,623). The Inglewood, Calif., native also owns the EWU career rushing record for a quarterback with 1,605 yards, breaking the previous record of 1,232 yards by Vernon Adams Jr. (2012-14).
 
Barriere is a preseason All-America selection and on watch lists for two end-of-season player of the year awards in FCS. Twelve times in his career he has won Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors (six in 2021, three in 2020-21, twice in 2019, once in 2018). He has received accolades as National FCS Player of the Week for his performances in three different games, including a pair from Stats Perform.
 
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In addition to his single game school records versus Idaho, he finished the game 26-of-35 passes (74 percent) for a passing efficiency rating of 284.32 that was close to the school record of 313.5. Barriere's performance earned him accolades as the FCS Stats Perform National Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, College Sports Madness FCS Offensive Player of the Week, as well as the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) FCS Top Performer award. In addition, he earned ROOT Sports Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors for the 11th time of his career and fifth this season.
 
One week prior to the Idaho game, he had a 32-of-41 performance for 347 yards and three touchdowns as EWU led 43-10 at halftime en route to a 63-17 romp at Northern Colorado on Oct. 9. In the first half alone, he was 23-of-29 (79 percent) for 231 yards as he earned ROOT Sports Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors (his 10th).
 
He had a 30-of-43 passing performance in a 50-21 Big Sky Conference win at Southern Utah, throwing for 518 of EWU's then school-record 554 passing yards (the other 36 came on a fake punt). He had four touchdown passes against the Thunderbirds. Barriere had no interceptions for the third-straight game, and entered the Montana game with 125 attempts without a pick after throwing two in EWU's season-opening 35-33 win at UNLV. His streak was snapped at 154 attempts versus the Grizzlies.
 
Following the Southern Utah game on Sept. 25, he received his second-straight FCS National Offensive Player of the Week accolade from College Sports Madness. He also received honorable mention as FCS Offensive Player of the Week from Stats Perform and honorable mention as the FCS Performer of the week from College Football Performance Awards. In addition, his second-straight 500-yard passing performance on the road helped him win him his ninth-career ROOT Sports Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week award, and he earned the same honor from CSN.
 
He broke FCS records for most passing yards (487) and total offense (497) in a single half versus Western Illinois on Sept. 18, 2021, as EWU took a 55-21 halftime lead in the 62-56 shootout victory. The old records of 480 and 491 were set in 2012 by Taylor Heinicke of Old Dominion versus New Hampshire. Barriere finished with a school-record 562 yards of total offense (542 passing yards were just seven from the school record).
 
He had the most yards in back-to-back games in school history in both passing and total offense with 542 passing at Western Illinois on Sept. 18, 2021 (a then school-record 562 of total offense) and 518 pass a week later at Southern Utah (546 total). He is the first FCS player with consecutive 500-yard passing performances since Cornell's Jeff Mathews in 2011 (521 versus Cornell and 548 at Penn).
 
The performance at Western Illinois earned Barriere his eighth-career ROOT Sports Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week award and he was also recognized nationally as he was named the Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week, the College Football Performance Association FCS National Performer of the Week and the College Sports Madness National Offensive and Big Sky Player of the Week.
 
He was selected as Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year and was the runner-up for the Walter Payton Award in the 2020-21 season. He was selected to six different FCS All-America squads during the season impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. A unanimous first team All-Big Sky choice in the 2020-21 season, he earned third team All-Big Sky Conference honors as both a sophomore (2018) and junior (2019).
 
He finished the 2020-21 season ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense (sixth, 369.0 per game), passing offense (seventh, 348.4), passing touchdowns (second, 19) and points responsible for (ninth, 17.4 per game).
 
In 2019, Barriere finished fifth in the voting for the prestigious Walter Payton Award presented by STATS, and earned third team FCS All-America honors from Hero Sports. That season he finished second in FCS in total offense with an average of 355.8 yards per game and was third in passing (309.3), ninth with 31 touchdown passes and fourth in points responsible for (20.2 per game with 31 TDs passing, eight rushing and a two-point conversion).