Reigning Payton Award winner Beau Brungard ups the ante in 2026
CARBONDALE, Ill. — When you’ve already been named the best player in the country, what do you do for an encore? After winning the Payton Award last year, that’s the question Youngstown State quarterback Beau Brungard is trying to answer in 2026.
His response so far this season has been to up the ante.
In 2025, Brungard put up mind-boggling numbers: 1,468 rushing yards with 27 touchdowns, plus 3,234 passing yards with 26 TDs. It’s hard to get much better than that, but Brungard has found a way.
Last year, he completed “only” 69 percent of his passes. This season he’s completing passes at a 74-percent clip. With 13 touchdown passes, he’s on a pace to easily surpass his total from last season.
Southern Illinois defensive coordinator Lee Pronschinske noticed the improvement.
“Coming off winning the Payton award, he could’ve been like, alright, I'm in a good spot, but he clearly attacked this offseason to take even another step forward with his accuracy,” Pronschinske said. “I think that says a lot about him and matches everything you hear about him as a young man. He's a very impressive individual.”
SIU’s defense has been excellent against the pass so far this season. The unit ranks second in the nation in interceptions with eight and second in the conference in sacks with 12. Still, Brungard may be the defense’s toughest challenge to date.
“I think it comes down to having a laser focus on execution on every single rep, no matter the down-and-distance or the situation,” Pronschinske said. “He is so talented that the moment you misfit something or don't have the correct leverage, he escapes the pocket and he's going to beat you every single time.”
Coordinator’s Corner: StrongDawgs conversation with defensive coordinator Lee Pronschinske
SD: The Murray State opening drive wasn’t the start you were looking for, but you had to be pleased with a shut-out the rest of the way. After the game, Andrew Behm said they gave you some unexpected looks.
LP: You got to give credit to the offensive staff at Murray. They did a good job putting together their openers. The reverse was a good call for what we were in. There were some self-inflicted wounds with the 15-yard penalty on the roughing the passer that put them down in the low red zone. We had a 3rd-and-7 and a 3rd-and-6 that we failed to get stops on. Those are areas where we need to clean up our execution, and from a play-calling standpoint, making sure we're in a good situation to get off the field.
Throughout the season, there's going to be some moments that any good offense is going to give you some different looks you haven't seen on tape yet. I was proud of the guys’ ability to make the adjustments from the sideline and execute.
SD: There have been only six accepted penalties against the defense through five games. Last season, the total number of penalties was 36 for a 12-game season. Is there a target range you have for penalties?
LP: We would like to play a clean game. We don't necessarily have a goal per game. Penalties that come from playing hard to the whistle, being aggressive, we’ll live with. In the safety and corner rooms, we talk all the time about what's pass interference one week in the Missouri Valley may not be PI the next week. We can control the pre-snap and post-snap penalties. Those are the ones that can't show up.
SD: Your defense is second in the nation with eight interceptions. There's some PFF metrics that have the defense in the Top 5 in efficiency against the pass. What are you doing consistently right in defending the pass that’s helped you produce those numbers?
LP: It's an all-11 effort. We’ve talked about it in previous interviews, the defensive line’s playing at a really high level. We're at 12 sacks already through five weeks, and we had 18 the whole year last year. We’re affecting the passer with a four-man rush and forcing the ball out. We're doing a good job being sticky on the routes. The corners are playing really well. The linebackers are affecting a lot of windows and taking the stress off, and then we're really capitalizing on situations with the ball in the air.
We've also been a lot better so far against the run, so we're getting teams into more predictable pass situations where our calls can match it a little better, rather than dealing with a lot of situations that put you on your heels a little bit.
SD: Youngstown State QB Beau Brungard is coming off a season with nearly 1,500 rushing yards, but his pass completion percentage has gone up this year from 69 percent a year ago to 74 percent. That’s a scary stat.
LP: Yeah, that's actually one of the first things mentioned in the unit meeting today. Coming off winning the Walter Payton award, he could’ve been like, alright, I'm in a good spot, but he clearly attacked this offseason to take even another step forward with his accuracy. I think that says a lot about him and matches everything you hear about him as a young man. He's a very impressive individual.
SD: Talk about going against an offensive coordinator this week who’s been the play caller at places like Penn State, Texas and Oklahoma State.
LP: I think Mike Yurcich, no disrespect to anyone else in the league, might be the best schematic play caller that we get to go against. I think he does a phenomenal job. There's a reason he's been an offensive coordinator at the Power 4 level for so many years.
SD: I’m sure you’ve been asked, how do you slow down Brungard. Rather than try to come up with something new, isn’t it more about executing your existing principles at the highest level?
LP: Yeah, I think it comes down to having a laser focus on execution on every single rep, no matter the down-and-distance or the situation. He is so talented that the moment you misfit something or don't have the correct leverage, he escapes the pocket and he's going to beat you every single time. When you turn on his tape, he also does a really good job of not getting hit. He's a bit of a magic man who finds the sideline, gets out of bounds. He's a very smart player.
SD: How is the talent around Brungard this year?
LP: Jaden Gilbert only has 34 carries on the year, but if you gave him 20 carries a game, there's no doubt he'd be a 100-yard back every single game. The slot wide receiver, Lynn Wyche-El, is an absolute stud from Grand Valley. He went for over 100 yards against Kentucky. Their tight ends are all back and they're vertical threats and really good with the ball in their hands. Beau brings the best out in those guys, and if you get too locked in on just Beau, someone else is going to hurt you.
SD: When you’re pass rushing against a talent like Brungard, is there a little different approach to try to contain him within the pocket?
LP: Yeah, if you just go speed to power on the outside and try to win at the edge, he's going to step up, expose that open B gap and take off on you every time. There's also a lot of tape where people are in their rush lanes and he still finds a way to escape. It's about showing him different pictures, different movements, different fronts, different pressures, different coverages to try to make him diagnose and just hold that ball for another quarter to a half a second to allow the pass rush to do their thing or the coverage to get to the right landmarks or guys to win their one-on-ones in coverage.
He's playing behind a really good offensive line, too. Those guys have played a lot of snaps together and are all fifth-year guys. They understand Beau’s strengths, so when the play does extend, they know where to funnel guys to allow him to step up and attack defenses the way he does.
SD: In a game like this, great players are gonna make great plays. DJ's gonna do it for Southern. Beau’s going to do it for Youngstown. After a great play, is the right response for the defense to tip your cap, then let it go and focus on the next opportunity?
LP: Yeah, I think that's the perfect way of saying it. They’re two different quarterbacks, but when you go against DJ, when you go against Beau, and a couple other quarterbacks we’ll see this year, they're going to have their moments when they’re going to get you. Beau’s never been shut out before. He's going to make some plays and it's going to be about mentally responding for 60 minutes or however long it takes. In the two games I've been a part of, there's a lot of different ways these games can go. Sometimes, it's a 28-point comeback in the second half (2024) and then sometimes a 10-point halftime lead disappears on you real quick (2025).
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