Fans get to help decide who will be the next C Spire Conerly Trophy winner honoring Mississippi's top college football player of the year

While Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Southern Miss and seven other teams will determine their ultimate fate on the gridiron as the season concludes, college football fans will help influence who gets the best player honors.  For the fourth time in the award's 21-year history, fan voting will count for 10 percent of the Conerly Trophy and a panel of statewide sports media will decide the remaining 90 percent.

"We want fans to take part in identifying Mississippi's best college football player," said Bill Blackwell, executive director of the MSHOF and co-sponsor of the award along with C Spire. "Major League baseball and other sports have used fan voting for years. We think involving fans will help sustain interest in an award that's an integral part of the local college football scene."

The 10 Conerly Trophy finalists are Alcorn State linebacker Darien Anderson, Mississippi Valley State quarterback Austin Bray, Ole Miss tight end Evan Engram, Jackson State defensive end Javancy Jones, Millsaps defensive lineman Alex Foust, Belhaven quarterback Hunter McEachern, Mississippi College wide receiver Marcel Newson, Delta State running back Chris Robinson, Mississippi State wide receiver Fred Ross and Southern Miss running back Ito Smith.

Fan voting begins today at 8:30 a.m. CST and concludes on Sunday, Nov. 27 at 12 noon CST.  Just as the media voters do, fans will vote for a first place, second place and third place winner. Fans will be able to vote by Facebook, Twitter and via text messaging. Fans may submit up to three votes per day during the voting period; however, only one entry is allowed per day for each of the social media methods.  To register and vote, go to www.csopavoting.com.

More background information

About C Spire
C Spire is a diversified telecommunications and technology services company that provides world-class customer-inspired service and a superior comprehensive suite of customer-inspired wireless communications, high-speed Internet access and a range of other telecommunications products and services to consumers and businesses.  This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at www.twitter.com/cspire.

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SOURCE C Spire