Harlon Hill Watch – Six GLIAC Players Named Candidates for 2014 Harlon Hill Award
FLORENCE - Ala. -- A total of 36 student-athletes from across the nation have been nominated for the 2014 Harlon Hill Trophy as the Division II College Football Player of the Year.
The list of candidates was announced Thursday morning by the National Harlon Hill Award Committee, and includes players from each of the four Division II Super Regions.
Players are nominated and voted on by the sports information directors at the 168 NCAA Division II football-playing institutions. The 36 initial candidates will be placed on regional ballots and the top two players from each of the four NCAA regions will advance to the national ballot when regional voting concludes on November 28.
The winner of the 2014 award, which is presented by the National Harlon Hill Award Committee, will be announced on Friday, December 19 via a webcast and the winner will be honored at a luncheon on the University of North Alabama campus on January 9, 2015.
The Hill Trophy is sponsored by the City of Florence, Ala., Florence-Lauderdale Tourism, Opti-Net, the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa and Herff Jones.
Candidates are initially nominated by the sports information directors at their respective schools and are then voted on by the SIDs in their respective Super Region. The winner is then determined in a nation-wide vote of the Division II sports information directors. The group of 36 candidates includes 20 quarterbacks, nine running backs, two receivers, three linebackers and two defensive linemen. There are 20 seniors, nine juniors and seven sophomores.
Six players from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) were among the 10 players from Super Region #4 that were named candidates for the award.
Lake Erie’s junior running back Anthony Bilal broke several school records en route to becoming the Storm's first 2,000 yard rusher and second All-GLIAC honors. Bilal ended the year tied for lead nationally in rushing touchdowns with 29 and second in rushing yards with 2,091 on just 254 carries. Against Ohio Dominican University, Ferris State University and Michigan Tech University- three teams that qualified for the NCAA playoffs- Bilal totaled 626 yards and six touchdowns. His 270 yards in the final week against Michigan Tech set a school record which he set earlier in the season. Against Walsh University, Bilal scored six rushing touchdowns, which tied the GLIAC record for most in a game. Overall, Bilal rushed for 200 or more yards in six games this season and scored three or more touchdowns in five games.
Nores Fradi, a senior linebacker from Wayne State, started all 11 games at outside linebacker in 2014 for the Warriors and led the nation with 28.5 tackles for loss during the regular season. He tied for the GLIAC lead with 8.5 sacks, while finishing with exactly 100 tackles (73-27) on the year. His 70 yards lost on sacks led the conference as did his 113 TFL yards and 73 solo tackles. Fradi tied-for-third in the league in forced fumbles with three, while helping the WSU defense rank fifth in scoring defense (21.4 ppg), fourth in total defense (338.5), first in sacks (32) and second in fumble recoveries (13) among GLIAC schools. His 6.6 solo tackles per game ranked ninth nationally, and at the conclusion of the regular season, Fradi was first among active D-II players and 11th among all active NCAA football players with 51.5 career tackles for loss (43-17).
Ohio Dominican’s senior quarterback Mark Miller has thrown for 7,192 yards and 68 touchdowns in his career while completing 65.7 percent of his passes. Miller ranks fifth nationally in 2014 in completion percentage (67.7 percent) and has 20 touchdown passes. He set a career high with five TD passes against Ashland.
Findlay’s Verlon Reed ended his career with a number of school records. The signal caller set records for most completions in a season (210), most attempts in a season (357), most passing yards in a season (2,712) and most offensive yards (3,346). His 4,503 career passing yards ranks second all-time at UF.
Anthony Taylor, a senior running back from Ashland, is the program's all-time leading rusher and touchdown scorer, ran for 1,177 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2014.
Ferris State’s Jason Vander Laan quarterbacked the Bulldogs to the school's first-ever 11-0 regular season to earn "GLIAC Player of the Year" award laurels. This season, Vander Laan has compiled a squad-best 1,328 rushing yards with 19 scores while completing 164-of-239 passes for a career-high 2,140 yards and 27 touchdowns. He ranks as the nation's top rushing quarterback at all levels and is tops in the country in passing efficiency (177.8) along with points responsible for this year (276).
IMPORTANT DATES
November 24, 2014
Regional ballots will be emailed no later than Monday, Nov.
24.
November 28, 2014
Regional ballots must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28.
The eight national finalists will be announced for release on
Monday, Dec. 1.
December 3, 2014
National ballots will be emailed on Wednesday, Dec. 3.
December 13, 2014
On Saturday, Dec. 13, all final ballots will be counted.
December 19, 2014
On Friday December 19, the Harlon Hill Trophy winner will be
announced via a webcast at 2:00 p.m. Central.
January 8, 2015
The winner of the 2014 Harlon Hill Trophy will be brought to
Florence on Thursday afternoon, January 8.
January 9, 2015
Official presentation of the 2014 Harlon Hill Trophy at a luncheon
at the University of North Alabama on Friday, January 9.