Harlon Hill Finalists Announced
A field of 24 candidates has been trimmed to eight national finalists in regional voting for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year.
The finalists were selected by the NCAA Division II sports information directors in regional voting and will now be placed on the national ballot where all 154 of the division’s SIDs will select the award’s 23rd winner.
The top two players from each of Division II’s Super Regionals advanced to the national ballot.
The list of 2008 finalists is comprised of six quarterbacks, a running back and a wide receiver. Seven of the finalists helped lead their teams into the NCAA Division II playoffs this season and three of the eight finalists were also Hill finalists in 2007.
Advancing from Super Regional 1 are junior quarterback Trevor Harris of Edinboro (Pa.) University and senior wide receiver Michael Washington of West Chester (Pa.) University. Super Regional 2 is represented by senior quarterbacks A.J. Milwee of the University of North Alabama and Corey Russell of Tusculum (Tenn.) College. The top vote getters in Super Regional 3 were Grand Valley State (Mich.) University junior quarterback Brad Iciek and University of Minnesota-Duluth senior quarterback Ted Schlafke. Advancing from Super Regional 4 are Central Washington University senior quarterback Mike Reilly and Abilene Christian (Texas) University senior running back Bernard Scott.
Scott finished second in the 2007 Hill race while Iciek was seventh and Milwee ninth.
National voting will conclude on November 29 and the top three finishers will be invited to the Shoals for the presentation banquet. The winner of the 2008 award, which is presented by the National Harlon Hill Award Committee, will be announced at the 23rd annual Harlon Hill Trophy Presentation Banquet on Friday, December 12 at the Florence Conference Center at 6:30 p.m. This year’s Hill Trophy Banquet will also include the tenth induction into the Division II Football Hall of Fame.
–Courtesy Harlon Hill Trophy Committee
