Anderson, a 185-pound strong safety from Butte, is one of 14 newcomers to the list of 16. Montana State linebacker Bobby Daly and free safety Ladarius Webb of Nicholls State are the only holdovers from last year, when Montana's Kroy Biermann became the first Big Sky Conference player to take home the award.
“It's a pretty neat deal. It's something I didn't really expect,” said Anderson, who had 85 tackles, four interceptions and nine pass deflections in 2007 when he was all-Big Sky for the second straight year.
Five Big Sky Conference players are up for the Buchanan. Along with Anderson and Daly, Sacramento State linebacker Cyrus Mulitalo, Eastern Washington defensive end Greg Peach and Portland State linebacker Andy Schantz are in the running.
Also on the list is UC Davis defensive tackle John Faletoese, who plays in Montana's homecoming game on Sept. 20.
Eight players are back on the watch list for the Walter Payton Award, for the top offensive player in the FCS. Among them are receiver Ramses Barden of Cal Poly, who the Grizzlies visit next Saturday, and Massachusetts quarterback Liam Coen, who helped the Minutemen defeat the Griz in the 2006 FCS semifinals.
One newcomer is Eastern Washington junior quarterback Matt Nichols, the only Big Sky player currently on the list. Nichols garnered the 17th-most votes last year as a write-in candidate.
The list will be revised in October and November. The ballots go out on Nov. 24, and the awards are announced on Dec. 18, the eve of the FCS title game in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Griz had a short, full-pads, full-contact practice Friday, ahead of a calm weekend. The squad had its first- and second-string offense and defense work against the scout team.
“Every day's full contact,” noted coach Bobby Hauck. “We just decided to let the guys finish live on the ball. That's the product of us having a young defense. We didn't feel like we could do it next week.”
Practice lasted roughly 90 minutes for the Grizzlies, who open at Cal Poly on Sept. 6.
Joe Smith, who saw limited action last fall after transferring from Mt. San Antonio College and ended spring ball as a backup corner, is apparently done with football.
“He's got a degenerative hip,” Hauck said Friday. “It won't hold up.”
Smith, 5-foot-9 and 192 pounds, is the cousin of Billy Ivey, who played cornerback for the Griz in 1996.
Griz fans can get a look at the new improvements to Washington-Grizzly Stadium next Wednesday from 4-7 p.m. Those who want to see the new turf, the east side expansion and possibly hear the new sound system, should enter either through the east side entrance or the new southeast gate.
The complete Payton watch list: Barden; Coen; Nichols; receiver Terrell Hudgins of Elon; quarterbacks Nathan Brown of Central Arkansas, Armanti Edwards of Appalachian State, Rodney Landers of James Madison and Dominic Randolph of Holy Cross; and running backs Herb Donaldson of Western Illinois, Mike McLeod of Yale, Tyler Roehl of North Dakota State, Rashad Jennings of Liberty, Corey Lewis of Northern Iowa, Javarris Williams of Tennessee State and Jordan Scott of Colgate.
The complete Buchanan watch list: Anderson; Daly; Webb; Mulitalo; Peach; Schantz; Faletoese; linebackers Bobby Abare of Yale, Pierre Banks of Appalachian State, Mario Brown of Gardner-Webb, Zach East of Prairie View, Andy Romans of Lafayette and Jason Williams of Western Illinois; defensive ends Jovan Belcher of Maine and Pierre Walters of Eastern Illinois; and free safety Terrell Whitehead of Norfolk State.
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