Youngstown State QB Beau Brungard Returns, Walter Payton Winner Eyes 2026

Beau Brungard closed 2025 as the FCS’ most decorated offensive player and announced he will return to Youngstown State for his senior season, cementing his status as a 2026 pro prospect to watch. The 6-foot, 215-pound dual-threat finished the year completing 277 of 403 passes for 3,234 yards, 26 touchdown passes and three interceptions while rushing 242 times for 1,468 yards and 27 rushing scores, figures reported by HERO Sports that underline why Brungard won the 2025 Walter Payton Award.

The Walter Payton Award voting reflected a clear consensus: Brungard received 177 voting points from the panel, outpacing Western Carolina’s Taron Dickens, who had 138 points, and North Dakota State’s Cole Payton, who had 94 points. Brungard’s honor has program-level significance; he became the first Youngstown State player to win the award in the program’s 39-year history, joining an elite list of past Payton winners that includes Steve McNair, Adrian Peterson, Brian Westbrook, Tony Romo and Cooper Kupp.

Brungard produced headline-making box scores across the schedule. He accounted for five touchdowns in a 35-32 win over Northern Iowa, threw for three and ran for three in a 48-29 win at Indiana State, and accounted for six total touchdowns in a 48-38 victory against Southern Illinois. His season ended in a 43-42 FCS playoff loss at Yale, where Yale scored 36 second-half points to stun Youngstown State in the Bulldogs’ playoff debut.

Pro scouting metrics bolstered Brungard’s profile. HERO Sports cited a 92.0 overall PFF grade that ranked No. 5 among FCS quarterbacks and No. 7 among all FBS/FCS signal-callers; HERO Sports also noted Brungard had eight games with at least 250 passing yards and 10 games with multiple rushing touchdowns. The rapid passing improvement from his sophomore season — when he threw for 2,141 yards with 12 TDs and 11 interceptions while rushing for 998 yards and 16 TDs — reinforced the view of Brungard as an ascending, NFL-caliber athlete.

Brungard’s decision to remain at Youngstown State rather than test the transfer portal keeps a top offensive cornerstone in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The MVFC table from 2025 shows Youngstown State at 5-3 in conference play and 8-5 overall, and HERO Sports framed Brungard as the most important returning offensive player in the MVFC for 2026. Morning Journal coverage called him a quadruple offensive playmaker and noted his goal of returning to the playoffs and making a deep run, with Stambaugh Stadium in Youngstown serving as his home venue.

Public reporting contains differing stat lines: HERO Sports’ 3,234 passing yards and 1,468 rushing yards sit alongside NCAA and Morning Journal regular-season tallies of 2,917 passing yards and 1,378 rushing yards in 12 games, and a Sports Illustrated aggregate of 4,702 total yards and 54 total touchdowns. Regardless of the exact totals, Brungard’s profile is clear: as a Walter Payton Award winner and a New Middletown, Ohio native who chose to run it back at YSU, he will anchor Youngstown State’s offense and headline FCS draft scouting conversations through the spring and into the 2026 season.