VALDOSTA, Ga. – Coming off a record-setting first season under center, Valdosta State rising senior quarterback Sammy Edwards was named to the D2Football.com Elite 100 Watch List Second Team, released this week.
 
Edwards, a native of Saint Augustine, Fla., stepped into the starting role under center for the Blazers and put together a record-setting campaign capped with finishing third in the prestigious Harlon Hill Award.  He earned GSC Top Ten honors for 2023-24 and was named VSU Male Athlete of the Year in April.  He earned Gulf South Conference Offensive Player of the Year and was named D2 Conference Commissioners Association Super Region Two Offensive Player of the Year in 2023.
 
He finished second nationally for passing yards this season with 4,223, just three yards shy of tying the school-record for passing yards in a season.  He went 327 of 494 passing for 34 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, while is 34 touchdown passes put him third all-time in a single season in program history.  The 4,223 yards passing is third-most all-time in league history.  Nationally speaking, Edwards finished 11^th in completion percentage at a 66.2 clip, while he finished sixth in completions per game at 23.36.  He finished 20^th nationally in passing efficiency (156.3) for third in the league, while his 34 TD tosses were sixth-most nationally.  Edwards finished with 301.6 yards passing per game for fifth nationally and he was fifth in total offense at 321.0 yards per game.  
 
In addition to Edwards and Mississippi College's punter Michael Shine who also was named to the second team, Delta State's Jaelon Brown (OL) and West Florida's Byron Puryear (DL) and Will Breland (LB), along with West Alabama's Trevon Stanford (LB) were named to the Squad Offense and Defense teams among student-athletes from the GSC.
 
Edwards, who continues to rack up preseason honors, was named to the All-GSC Preseason Team last month, while he also was named to the Lindy's Sports 2024 Division II Preseason All-America Team in June.  He and the Blazers kickoff the 2024 season on Aug. 31 at 7 p.m., at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium versus rival Albany State in the first South Georgia Labor Day Classic.  

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