Sports

Maysonet finishes stellar college career, NFL next?

ROBERT O’ROURK FILE PHOTO | Miguel Maysonet in his final home game last week.

Several hours after the Suffolk County Champion Riverhead football team saw its season end Saturday, the young man who led the team to its previous title four years ago, played in the final game of his college career.

Miguel Maysonet and the Stony Brook University football team fell 16-10 at Montana State Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the college football championship subdivision playoffs. It was the second straight year in which the Seawolves (10-3) lost in the second round of the postseason.

Maysonet, who was named this past week as a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given to the top player in the FCS, finishes his college career with 5,248 all-purpose yards and 53 touchdowns. He is the all-time leading rusher in Stony Brook and Big South history.

A three-year player at Stony Brook after transferring from Hofstra, Maysonet rushed for 1,970 yards and 21 touchdowns in his senior season.

He’ll now prepare for the NFL Draft and he’s already moved up the charts as a prospect, where several scouting websites rank him as a top 20 running back. A total of 22 running backs were taken in the 2012 draft.

“Maysonet has more power than his size would indicate, and his instincts are improving,” ESPN’s Todd McShay recently wrote. “After rushing for 220 yards and two TDs in Stony Brook’s 23-3 win over Army on Oct. 1, his stock is rising.”

Army head coach Rich Ellerson said after that game that Maysonet was as “good a back as the team would face all season.”

Scouts from 28 of 32 NFL teams visited Stony Brook this season to watch Maysonet play, according to a recent Newsday article. The NFL draft will be held next April. The Walter Payton Award announcement is scheduled for Jan. 6 in Frisco, Texas.