Height: 6-2 Weight: 227 Birth date: 04/21/1980\                                Position: Quarterback Years Pro: 2 College: Eastern Illinois

Quarterback Tony Romo was named the 16th winner of the Walter Payton Award Thursday at the Division I-AA College Football Awards, on the eve of the national championship game. Romo headed one of the most prolific offenses in the nation during the 2002 season, as the Panthers averaged 37.7 points per game despite the presence of two I-A opponents and no sub-I-AA competition on its ’02 slate. The Burlington, WI native finished his career with 84 touchdown passes, shattering the previous school mark of 75 held by current New York Giants offensive coordinator Sean Payton. Romo is the seventh quarterback to win the Payton Award, and the first since Montana's Dave Dickenson in 1995. The senior became the first player from the Ohio Valley Conference to win the Payton, and only the second from the league to capture a major I-AA Award. Murray State's Houston Nutt, now the head coach at Arkansas, won the Eddie Robinson Award in 1995.