http://www.mercerbears.com/sports/fball/...0702lvh415

Brown Adds to Football’s Growing List of Preseason Awards


CHARLESTON, S.C. – Mercer football sophomore Robert Brown became the third Bear to be named to a 2014 College Football Performance Awards Watch List, as he was one of 36 returning tight ends from the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to receive recognition.

Brown ranked among the top 10 FCS tight ends in touchdown receptions with five scores in 2013. He wrapped up his freshman campaign with 21 receptions for 308 yards en route to Second Team All-Pioneer Football League honors. Brown helped make history in the Bears' return to the gridiron, hauling in the program's first touchdown in 72 years with a 37-yard score against Reinhardt.

The Nashville, Tenn. native joins quarterback John Russ and running back Payton Usher, as the Bears' first three representatives on the CFPA watch list. Mercer is just one of five FCS programs with an individual on each of the quarterback, running back and tight end watch lists.

The goal of College Football Performance Awards is to provide the most scientifically rigorous conferment in college football. Recipients are selected exclusively based upon objective scientific rankings of the extent to which individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams. Twenty-eight CFPA winners have been first-round NFL Draft selections.

CFPA is now in its seventh season of recognition, utilizing objective rankings of player and team performance from its data index since 2008. The full list of 2014 CFPA winners will be announced January 14, 2015.