Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - The race for the 2008 Walter Payton Award and Buck Buchanan Award has begun, with The Sports Network's announcement of Payton and Buchanan watch lists.

Eight players from last year's Walter Payton Award ballot are among the 16 names on the 2008 Payton Award watch list.

Receivers Ramses Barden of Cal Poly and Terrell Hudgins of Elon, quarterbacks Liam Coen of Massachusetts and Dominic Randolph of Holy Cross and running backs Herb Donaldson of Western Illinois, Mike McLeod of Yale, Tyler Roehl of North Dakota State and Jordan Scott of Colgate were the repeat selections.

Eight other players joined them on the Payton watch list, quarterbacks Nathan Brown of Central Arkansas, Armanti Edwards of Appalachian State, Rodney Landers of James Madison and Matt Nichols of Eastern Washington, receiver Andre Roberts of The Citadel and running backs Rashad Jennings of Liberty, Corey Lewis of Northern Iowa and Javarris Williams of Tennessee State.

Roehl, who finished eighth last season, is the highest returning vote-getter. McLeod was ninth, Hudgins 11th, Randolph 12th, Donaldson 13th, Scott 14th, Barden 15th and Coen 16th last year. Nichols was 17th as a write-in candidate.

Linebacker Bobby Daly of Montana State and free safety Lardarius Webb of Nicholls State head up the 16 candidates named to the Buck Buchanan Award watch list, also released on Friday.

Daly, who finished sixth in the 2007 Buchanan Award voting, and Webb, who placed 10th, are the only players from last year's ballot on the Buchanan list.

Eight other linebackers joined Daly among the candidates, Bobby Abare of Yale, Pierre Banks of Appalachian State, Mario Brown of Gardner-Webb, Zach East of Prairie View, Cyrus Mulitalo of Sacramento State; Andy Romans of Lafayette, Andy Schantz of Portland State and Jason Williams of Western Illinois.

Other players selected included strong safety Colt Anderson of Montana, defensive ends Jovan Belcher of Maine, Greg Peach of Eastern Washington and Pierre Walters of Eastern Illinois, defensive tackle John Faletoese of UC Davis and free safety Terrell Whitehead of Norfolk State.

The Payton and Buchanan awards will undergo two revisions, one in October and one in November, before ballots are sent out to a panel of sports information directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries on Nov. 24. The Sports Network awards banquet will be held Dec. 18 in Chattanooga, TN, on the eve of before the NCAA Division I national championship game.

The Payton Award goes to the FCS national player of the year, with the Buchanan Award honoring the FCS national defensive player of the year.

The Eddie Robinson Award, which goes to the FCS national coach of the year will also be awarded that night. The Robinson Award ballot will be announced in November.

The Sports Network established the Payton and Robinson awards in 1987, and began sponsoring the Buchanan Award in 1995.

Georgia Southern quarterback Jayson Foster was the 2007 Payton Award winner, while Montana defensive end Kroy Biermann took home the Buchanan Award.