Portland State Football Coach Bruce Barnum and Safety Patrick Onwuasor will be honored this Friday night at the annual FCS Awards Banquet in Frisco, TX on the eve of the FCS National Championship game.

Barnum was named the Football Championship Subdivision National Coach of the Year in December after leading his Viking program to its best Division I showing ever and the FCS Playoffs. The Vikings had a 9-2 regular season, including wins over two FBS programs and five wins over nationally-ranked teams. PSU lost in the second round of the FCS playoffs to Northern Iowa, but Barnum turned a program that had been 3-9 the year before into a 9-3 group with a top-10 ranking.

He will be presented with his Coach of the Year Award at the banquet by Jerry Moore, former head coach at Appalachian State.

Onwuasor, a senior from Inglewood, CA, is one of three finalist for National Defensive Player of the Year. That award, as well as Offensive Player of the Year, will be announced at the banquet. In addition, the Freshman of the Year (Case Cookus, Northern Arizona) and Scholar-Athlete of the Year (Dalton Crews, Jacksonville State) awards will be presented.

Onwuasor joins two other players from Big Sky Conference teams that have been named finalists for the defensive award; Tyrone Holmes of Montana and James Cowser of Southern Utah. Onwuasor was the anchor on an opportunistic Viking defense in 2015. He ranked second in the nation in interceptions with nine. Onwuasor also made 85 tackles, three tackles for loss and a pass breakup. He tied a PSU record with three interceptions in one game and earned Big Sky Conference Player of the Week following a 35-16 win over Montana.

The 6-2, 225-pounder was named first team All-Big Sky Conference, then a consensus first-team All-American during the month of December.

In contention for FCS National Offensive Player of the Year are Marshaun Coprich of Illinois State, Kade Harrington of Lamar, and Cooper Kupp of Eastern Washington.

Barnum and Onwuasor will be surrounded by family, friends and Portland State staff when they are recognized at Friday's FCS banquet. The FCS National Championship game takes place on Saturday at Toyota Stadium in Frisco between Jacksonville State (13-1) and four-time defending champion North Dakota State (12-2).