Rodney Landers of James Madison Runs Away With State of Virginia's Top Honors

James Madison University's QB Rodney Landers beat out Virginia Tech's CB Victor "Macho" Harris and Virginia's LB Clint Sintim for the Dudley Award for the top Division I player in the state of Virginia. He is the first player in JMU history to win the award, and the fact that he beat out two Division I-A guys to get it is pretty darn amazing.

Rodney was the near unanimous choice, getting 14 of 15 first place votes, a pretty impressive feat for someone who is still relatively unknown nationally.

He started the season as one of the most impressive running quarterbacks ever seen, and the passing game has only improved since then. Landers has led the Dukes to a 12-1 record and stands just one game away from the FCS National Championship.

This season, Landers has passed for 1,519 yards and 21 touchdowns and run for 1,686 yards and 16 scores.  He averages 130 yards a game rushing, leading all FCS QBs by nearly 50 yards, and is 111/173 passing with only four interceptions.

If it would help sway the Walter Payton award in Rodney's favor, I'd point out that Armanti Edwards threw FIVE interceptions against Richmond alone. 

Tonight, Landers and the James Madison Dukes hope to defeat the Montana Grizzlies and head to the National Championship. The game will air on ESPN2 at 8PM. Be sure to tune in, because if the other rounds are any indication, this is going to be an exciting game.

One last note: If you don't follow FCS football that closely, you may not care/know about this, but I think the App State/JMU Rivalry just got bigger. After JMU students streamer-ed App State's stadium, the streamers were run over multiple times and apparently returned to JMU's student athletic boosters, the Student Duke Club.

In retaliation, and to celebrate App State's exit from the playoffs, the Student Duke Club has supposedly sent a box of plastic spiders. If this did indeed happen, I'd be curious to hear about any retaliation.

So, if you hear anything, be sure to post in the comments section!