ASU #14 
Armanti Edwards
Quarterback - QB
Height: 6-0 Weight: 184
Senior
Previous Affiliations
Greenwood
Previous Experience
Greenwood, S.C.
The most decorated player in Appalachian history ... winner of the 2008 Walter Payton Award, given annually to the nation’s top NCAA Division I FCS (Football Championship Subdivision — formerly Division I-AA) player ... is the clear-cut favorite to become the first two-time winner in the 23-year history of the Payton Award ... became just the sixth underclassman to take home the award when he won it in a landslide last December ... is on pace to own every record for a quarterback in ASU and Southern Conference history ... is already the school and conference’s all-time leader in total offense (10,783 yards), touchdowns responsible for (109), touchdown passes (62) and rushing yards by a quarterback (3,682) ... in addition to his continued assault on the school’s passing and total-offense records, Edwards needs just 1,123 rushing yards to become ASU’s all-time leader in that prestigious category as well (his career average coming into the campaign is 1,227 rushing yards per season) ... poised to become one of the top two dual-threat quarterbacks in NCAA Division I history, FCS or FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision — formerly Division I-A) ... is already the only player in FCS history with 7,000 passing yards and 3,500 rushing yards in a career (fourth Division I player overall to achieve the feat) ... is on pace to join former Missouri great Brad Smith (2002-05) as the only players in Division I history with 8,000 passing yards and 4,000 rushing yards in a career ... comes into the season ranked 17th in FCS history in total offense and, should he post numbers similar to last year, he will finish his career behind only the late Steve McNair’s 16,823 yards on the FCS’s all-time total-offense list ... looking to become the first four-time all-American in school history ... is the only ASU quarterback to earn all-America recognition more than once ... is 32-5 in 37 career starts ... will graduate in December, earning a bachelor’s degree in graphic arts and imaging technology in just three-and-a-half years ... has fully recovered from injuries that limited his production at the end of last season, including a right knee injury that required an athroscopic procedure in January.
2009 Ran over foot with lawnmower. Quick enough to avoid major injury.
2008: Won the Walter Payton Award (commonly referred to as the FCS version of the Heisman Trophy) in a landslide, easily out-distancing James Madison quarterback Rodney Landers with 398 total points and 53 first-place votes, compared to 290 points and 17 first-place nods for the JMU signal-caller ... was a consensus first-team All-American, receiving first-team recognition from the Associated Press, American Football Coaches Association, Walter Camp Football Foundation, The Sports Network and College Sporting News ... voted the Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year by the league’s coaches and media ... first-team all-SoCon honoree ... completed 196-of-306 passes for 2,902 yards and 30 touchdowns and rushed 193 times for 941 yards and 11 more scores ... set single-season school records for total offense (3,843 yards), touchdown passes and touchdowns responsible for (41) ... also established new conference single-season standards for total offense and touchdowns responsible for ... threw only two interceptions in 224 regular-season pass attempts ... put together a school-record string of 176 passes without an interception that spanned over two months, through eight full games and parts of two others ... tossed at least one touchdown pass in each of his 13 games and rushed for scores in 8-of-13 contests ... opened the season with two relatively lackluster performances at LSU (155 passing yards, 23 rushing yards) and Jacksonville (season-low 122 yards of total offense, including just 45 through the air on 3-of-8 passing) ... got off the shneid with 251 yards of offense (142 rushing, 109 passing) in the Apps’ heart-breaking 35-32 setback at James Madison ... threw an interception in the fourth quarter off the loss at JMU, which is notable because it would be his last INT of the regular season ... a week later versus Presbyterian, had his best performance of the year to date (256 yards of total offense, including 220 through the air) cut short when he suffered an ankle injury midway through the third quarter ... he would show no ill effects of the injury the next week, however, as he went over the 300-yard total-offense threshold for the first time all season with 225 yards on 14-of-18 passing and 80 yards on 15 rushes in a 47-21 rout over 12th-ranked The Citadel ... Edwards was responsible for six of ASU’s seven touchdowns in the win (four passing — a career high at the time — and two rushing) ... followed up the breakthrough performance versus The Citadel with back-to-back impressive showings on the road, compiling 370 yards of total offense in a 38-24 win at Samford and 333 total yards in a nail-biting 37-36 triumph at Georgia Southern ... completed 22-of-29 passes for 307 yards and three touchdowns through the air at SU ... put together a more balanced performance at GSU, passing for 176 yards and two touchdowns and rushing a career-high 33 times for 157 yards and three scores ... had a relatively pedestrian performance in the following week’s home win over No. 18 Furman, completing 16-of-24 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 16 more yards and another score ... as has been the case for much of his career, he saved his best performance of an outstanding October for when the spotlight was the brightest, racking up 440 yards of total offense and a career-best six touchdowns responsible for in a 70-24, nationally televised Friday night rout over No. 3 Wofford ... sliced and diced the Terrier defense to the tune of 367 yards and five touchdown strikes on 17-of-19 passing ... the five touchdown passes matched a school record and were a season high ... in the process, he became the SoCon’s all-time leader in total offense, surpassing the previous conference record of 9,370 set by his predecessor as ASU’s signal-caller, Richie Williams ... the sterling effort came on Halloween night in front of a school-record crowd of 30,931 and a potential television audience of over 93 million households on ESPN2 ... the career showing against the Terriers also wrapped up a spectacular month of October for Edwards ... he accounted for 1,650 yards of total offense (330 yards per game) and 24 touchdowns in five games in October, en route to being named the SoCon’s Offensive Player of the Month ... other mind-blowing numbers from his amazing march included completing 81-of-112 passes (72.3 percent) without an interception, amassing 1,261 yards and 16 touchdowns through the air while throwing for multiple touchdowns in all five games, posting a 214.04 pass efficiency rating, running 91 times for 389 yards (4.3 yards per carry) and eight more scores, scoring at least one rushing touchdown in all five games and being named the SoCon Offensive Player of the Week four times ... he began November on an equally impressive note, racking up 328 yards of total offense (176 rushing, 152 passing) in the first half of ASU’s 49-7 win at Chattanooga ... after leading the Mountaineers to a 35-7 halftime lead, Edwards watched the entire second half from the sideline ... the following week, he completed 12-of-14 passes for 147 yards and rushed 12 times for 104 yards to lead the Apps to a SoCon-title-clinching 24-16 win over No. 11 Elon ... the win came at a price, however, as Edwards sustained knee and hip injuries in the win that would keep him out of the regular-season finale at Western Carolina and severely limit his mobility for the rest of the season ... in the opening round of the NCAA Division I Championship versus South Carolina State, he completed a career-high 29 passes for a school-record 433 yards and four touchdowns ... however, lingering effects of the injury were still evident as he rushed for only 48 yards and threw his first two interceptions since the Sept. 20 loss at JMU ... things unraveled the following week, as the hobbled Edwards was not able to elude Richmond’s pass rush and threw five interceptions — one more than his season total coming into the game — in the 33-13 loss ... with virtually no ability to escape from the pocket, was limited to three rushing yards, the lowest total of his career as a starter.
2007: Despite missing four-and-a-half games due to injury, hauled in a plethora of postseason honors, including first-team all-America (College Sporting News), second-team all-America (The Sports Network), National Star of the Year (Sports Media Entertainment Network) and second-team all-Southern Conference (coaches) ... in just 11 starts, amassed 1,948 passing yards (10th-most in school history) and 1,588 rushing yards (the most by a QB and third-highest total by any player in school history) ... 1,588 rushing yards were the third most by a quarterback in FCS history (behind only 1,844 by Georgia Southern’s Jayson Foster in 2007 and 1,602 by Southern Utah’s Matt Cannon in 2000) ... 3,536 yards of total offense was good for second in school history (behind only Richie Williams’ 3,745 in 2005) ... accounted for 38 touchdowns (21 rushing, 17 passing) ... ran for 100-plus yards seven times, and 200 or more on three occasions ... did not rank among the NCAA’s official statistical leaders because he fell one game shy of the minimum standard of playing in 75 percent of team’s games ... if he did qualify for the official national rankings, he would have finished fifth in total offense (321.5 ypg), fifth in points responsible for (20.8 ppg), sixth in rushing (144.4 ypg) and seventh in passing efficiency (159.34) ... made national headlines by accounting for 289 yards (227 passing, 62 rushing) and four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) in ASU’s 34-32 season-opening victory at Michigan ... led ASU to a 28-17 halftime lead by completing 7-of-7 passes for 129 yards and rushing eight times for 41 yards in the first half alone ... closed out the impressive performance by calmly engineering a seven-play, 69 yard drive in 1:11 that set up the game-winning 24-yard field goal with 26 seconds remaining ... opened the decisive drive by running for 18 yards, then completed five-straight passes for 51 yards to move the Apps inside the five yard line ... earned National Player of the Week recognition from SME Network and SoCon Player of the Week accolades for his efforts versus Michigan ... the performance in the Big House became even more legendary when it was discovered that he had aggravated a shoulder injury suffered during a preseason scrimmage during the victory and would miss the next two contests versus Lenoir-Rhyne and Northern Arizona due to the injury ... thanks to a last-minute decision by the ASU coaching staff, returned to the starting lineup versus Wofford and totaled 140 yards in just over one half of action before re-aggravating the shoulder injury on the second play of the second half ... sat out of wins over Elon and Gardner-Webb before returning to the lineup for good versus Georgia Southern ... in first full game since the win over Michigan, set an ASU quarterback record with 220 rushing yards on 29 carries and threw for 178 yards and a touchdown, but could not overcome a sub-par 10-for-21 passing effort and season-high-tying two interceptions in the 38-35 loss ... accounted for 337 yards (211 passing, 126 rushing) and two rushing touchdowns in 31-24 win at Furman ... shattered ASU’s all-time single-game rushing record and SoCon record for rushing yards by a QB with 291 yards on the ground in 45-21 win at The Citadel ... ran 21 times, including a pair of touchdown carries, in the record-breaking performance ... also threw for 148 yards and two touchdowns to total 439 yards of offense, a mark which ranked fourth in school history at the time (now fifth) ... earned SoCon Player of the Week recognition for second time of the season following performance vs. The Citadel ... threw for a season-high 295 yards and completed a career-best 26 passes on 31 attempts in less than three quarters of work in a 79-35 shellacking of archrival Western Carolina ... accounted for five of ASU’s 11 touchdowns in the win over WCU (three rushing, two passing) ... ran for 157 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries in 37-17 win over Chattanooga in regular-season finale ... rushed for 132 yards and three touchdowns and completed 12-of-17 passes for 126 yards in opening-round playoff win over James Madison ... like at Michigan, engineered a scoring drive in the waning minutes to grab the victory over JMU ... on fourth-and-three from the JMU 25 with less than two minutes to play and ASU trailing 27-22, Edwards completed a 20-yard pass to Devon Moore to give the Mountaineers first-and-goal on the five ... on the next play, Edwards capped the ASU comeback with his third touchdown run of the afternoon that gave the Apps the winning points with 1:10 remaining on the clock ... racked up 347 yards of offense (221 passing, 126 rushing) and three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) in quarterfinal win over Eastern Washington ... turned in one of the top individual performances in college football history with 313 rushing yards, 182 passing yards, good for 495 yards of total offense and seven total touchdowns (four rushing, three passing) to earn ASU’s third-consecutive national championship game berth with a 55-35 win over Richmond in national semifinals ... 313 rushing yards set ASU and SoCon records for single-game rushing yards and NCAA Division I (FCS or FBS), SoCon and ASU records for single-game rushing yards by a quarterback ... also set ASU postseason records for total offense (495 yds.) and touchdowns responsible for and tied school postseason marks for rushing touchdowns and points (24) ... performance ranks second in NCAA Division I FCS/I-AA postseason history for both rushing (333 - Georgia Southern’s Adrian Peterson vs. UMass, 1999) and total offense (539 - Stephen F. Austin’s Todd Hammel vs. Grambling, 1989) ... followed up the record-breaking performance vs. Richmond by throwing for 198 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 89 yards in national title game triumph over Delaware ... in four postseason games, totaled 1,387 yards of total offense (727 passing, 660 rushing) and accounted for 16 touchdowns ... named Division I playoffs MVP by College Sporting News.
2006: Freshman phenom brought home National Freshman of the Year and all-America (College Sporting News) recognition as well as SoCon Freshman of the Year and first-team all-conference plaudits ... played in all 15 games, starting the final 13 ... threw for 2,251 yards and ran for 1,153 more, becoming just the fifth player in NCAA Division I history (and only the second freshman) to pass for 2,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in the same season ... joined Kevin Richardson to become the first duo in ASU history to each amass 1,000 rushing yards in the same season ... took just 10 starts to break every school record for a freshman quarterback, including passing yards (needed just six games to break previous record), total offense (6), completions (8), touchdown passes (9), rushing yards (5) and rushing touchdowns (10) ... shattered school records for rushing yards and touchdowns (15) by a quarterback of any age ... led all freshman nationally (true or redshirt) in pass efficiency, total offense and points responsible for and all true freshman in passing yardage ... joined Western Carolina’s Lamont Seward (2000) as the only five-time winners of the SoCon Freshman of the Week award ... had modest results in relief stints versus NC State (8 total yards) and James Madison (33 total yds., rushing TD) ... entered the starting lineup in week three versus Mars Hill and threw for 203 yards and a touchdown and ran for 49 more yards and another score to lead the 41-0 shutout ... had a coming out party a week later in front of a national-television audience (ESPNU) at Gardner-Webb ... ran 13 times for 101 yards and a score and completed 16-of-22 passes for 195 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions en route to SoCon Freshman of the Week recognition ... would go on to collect SoCon Freshman of the Week accolades each of the next two weeks (263 total yards, 2 TD vs. Elon; 12-of-14 passing for 311 yds. and 3 TD in just one half of work in 56-21 drubbing at Chattanooga) ... also earned SoCon Frosh of the Week honors for performance in double-overtime victory at Georgia Southern (350 yds. of total offense, 2 TD) ... highlight of the 350-yard effort at GSU came when the 165-pound Edwards bowled over a GSU defender at the goal line, jarring the Eagle’s helmet off his head while Edwards scored ... Edwards suffered a mild knee injury in the draining triumph in Statesboro, but showed no ill effects the following week when he led ASU to its biggest-ever win over Furman, a 40-7 rout at Kidd Brewer Stadium ... in the regular-season finale at Western Carolina, Edwards earned his fifth SoCon Freshman of the Week award by compiling 204 yards of offense and accounting for three scores in a driving rainstorm ... in his postseason debut, Edwards came up just five yards shy of a school record for total offense in a postseason game (Richie Williams, 403 vs. SIU, 2005), passing for 226 and rushing for 172 and two touchdowns to open up a 31-0 halftime lead en route to an easy 45-28 rout over No. 13 Coastal Carolina ... in the win, Edwards and Richardson became the first ASU duo in three years to rush for 100 yards apiece in the same game, a feat they accomplished again each of the following two weeks to advance to the national championship game ... Edwards ran for 105 yards and a touchdown in a 38-17 quarterfinal win over No. 18 Montana State and scored three times on 110 rushing yards in a 49-24 drubbing of fifth-ranked Youngstown State in the national semifinals ... for the first time in six games, Edwards failed to account for a TD in the national championship game, but his 227 yards of total offense were more than enough to help propel ASU to a 28-17 win over No. 3 UMass ... capped it all off by being named to ASU athletics’ academic honor roll.
High School: Multi-talented quarterback threw for over 2,000 yards and ran for over 1,100 as a senior ... accounted for 29 touchdowns (17 passing, 12 rushing) in ‘05 ... played in 2005 Shrine Bowl ... began playing quarterback midway through junior season in which he threw for nearly 1,400 yards and 18 touchdowns and hauled in five passes for over 100 yards and a score at wide receiver.
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