Former Clemson lineman Tremayne Anchrum nominated for Walter Payton Man of the Year award

Tremayne Anchrum and Tyler Shatley are two Clemson pros nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award. (Photo: Trevor Ruszkowski / USATODAY)

by TigerNet Staff - Tue Dec 06 11:41:27 GMT-04:00 2022

Former Clemson offensive tackle Tremayne Anchrum was nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award by the LA Rams.

The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award was established in 1970. It was renamed in 1999 after the late Hall of Fame Chicago Bears running back, Walter Payton. Each team nominates one player who has had a significant positive impact on his community.

All 32 team winners will be highlighted as nominees and recognized for their important work during the weekend leading up to Super Bowl LVII. The 2022 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year will be announced during NFL Honors, a primetime awards special to air the Thursday before Super Bowl LVII, on NBC. The winner of the award each year receives a $250,000 donated to the winner's charity of choice. All other 31 nominees receive up to $40,000 donated to their charity of choice. All donations are courtesy of the NFL Foundation and Nationwide.

Here's what Anchrum was nominated for (via NFL.com):

Excellence on the Field:

Tremayne Anchrum Jr. worked very hard to earn a starting spot on the line this season but unfortunately on the very first play of his first game, suffered a season ending injury.

Dedication & Commitment to Community Efforts This Year:

Rams offensive lineman Tremayne Anchrum has followed in the footsteps of his former teammate and last year's Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year winner, Andrew Whitworth, with countless efforts in the Los Angeles community since joining the Rams in 2020. Most recently, Tremayne took a group of 15 youth from Boys and Girls Club Los Angeles to the LA Holocaust Museum after demonstrators on a major highway in Los Angeles exercised Nazi salutes as they stood behind a banner that read, "Kanye (West) is right about the Jews" in response to a series of antisemitic tweets from his account on October 8th. The youth who toured the museum learned about Jewish history and the Holocaust, and even heard from a Holocaust survivor Eva Nathanson, who shared her story and fielded thoughtful questions from Tremayne and others.

Dedication & Commitment to Community Efforts in Years Past:

In February of 2021, Tremayne volunteered at Boys and Girls Club at Lincoln Heights in East Los Angeles. Once the Rams season ended, he drove nearly 50 miles (4-5 days a week) to the Boys and Girls Club and spent 4-5 hours per day volunteering and working with youth. Tremayne's volunteer work at the Boys and Girls Club Los Angeles began in December of 2020 and he continues to work with the youth they serve. His rookie season in 2020, Tremayne participated in a Rise with the Rams session for five LA region high school football teams, LAPD officers and other Rams players. He helped lead a discussion about "understanding identities." The Rise with the Rams program is designed to harness the unifying power of sports and build relationships between local high school football teams with a cross-section of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds to break down barriers and build leadership and cultural competency skills for student-athletes, coaches and LAPD officers. Additionally in 2020, Tremayne teamed up with Operation Progress to host a virtual character development series for middle school students in Watts. The program was designed to help students recognize their full potential and to inspire them to be positive contributors to society. Tremayne shared his experiences and perspectives on specific character traits that have helped him throughout his life. Tremayne has also worked with Operation Progress youth outside of the organized team community programs.

Positive Character & a Lifestyle of Giving Back:

Last year, Tremayne Anchrum was honored by the city of Powder Springs for his accomplishments on and off the football field. Powder Springs mayor Al Thurman deemed April 18 as "Tre Anchrum Day" in Powder Springs. Tremayne is a Super Bowl champion, an all-Atlantic Coast Conference offensive lineman and two-time national champion at Clemson. Earlier this season Tremayne recorded his first start at guard and unfortunately suffered a fractured fibula on the first snap of the game that required surgery. Before leaving the field, he actually played another snap (with a broken fibula). Head Coach Sean McVay spoke to media the following day about Tremayne's toughness. "Tremayne Anchrum, what a tough guy. He broke his ankle on the first play of the game, played another snap, and then ended up exiting after that second play." Quarterback Matthew Stafford also spoke about Tremayne's work ethic leading up to the injury. "That was so tough to see, to be honest with you," Stafford said. "I know how hard Tre(mayne) had worked and had been playing well. Actually, I questioned him after the first play. I'm walking back to the huddle, he was limping. I was like, 'You good?' and he's like, 'Yeah, I'm good.' Didn't look good. And then the next play went down and that's tough when the guy's getting his first real substantial shot at going out there and doing it to go down with a freaky injury like that is no fun." For this and many more reasons, the Los Angeles Rams are proud to select Tremayne Anchrum as their 2022 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year.