Nov. 19, 2009

Florence, Ala. - A field of 24 candidates has been trimmed to nine national finalists in regional voting for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year and Grand Valley State senior quarterback Brad Iciek has been selected as a finalist for the third straight 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 148 of the division's SIDs will select the award's 24th winner. The top two players from each of Division II's Super Regionals advance to the national ballot, but three players advanced from Region 3 due to a tie in the voting.

The list of 2009 finalists is comprised of six quarterbacks and three running backs.

Eight of the finalists helped lead their teams into the NCAA Division II playoffs this season and two of this weekend's second round playoff matchups will have Hill finalists facing each other. Advancing from Super Regional 1 are junior quarterback Zach Amedro of West Liberty (W.V.) University and senior quarterback Trevor Harris of Edinboro (Pa.) University. Their teams meet Saturday in West Liberty, W.V. in the second round of the playoffs.

Super Regional 2 is represented by senior quarterbacks Harrison Beck of the University of North Alabama and Nick Graziano of Arkansas Tech University. The Lions and Wonder Boys also face each other Saturday at noon in Florence.

The top vote getters in Super Regional 3 were Iciek, Wayne State (Mich.) running back Joique Bell and University of Minnesota-Duluth junior running back Isaac Odim. Grand Valley State and Minnesota-Duluth are both hosting second round playoff games Saturday and could possibly meet in the NCAA quarterfinals.

Advancing from Super Regional 4 are Northwest Missouri State senior running back LaRon Council and Midwestern (Texas) State University junior quarterback Zack Eskridge. Northwest Missouri State is hosting a second round playoff game Saturday, while Midwestern State lost.

Iciek is a finalist for the third straight year and becomes just the third student-athlete in the 24-year history of the award to do so. Texas A&M Kingsville's Johnny Bailey was a four-time finalists from 1986-89 and was a three-time winner of the Hill Trophy. Jimmy Terwilliger of East Stroudsburg was also a three-time finalist from 2004-06 and won the award as a junior. Iciek finished fifth in the 2008 balloting, while Edinboro's Harris was also a finalist and finished eighth.

Brad has completed 165-of-256 passes for 2,369 yards and 26 TDs this season and ranks third in the nation in pass efficiency rating (174.14). He moved into fifth in all-time passing yards (7,636) yards and total offense (7,829) at GVSU. In addition, Iciek is third in all-time passing TDs with 89. Iciek's 169.09 career pass efficiency rating is third all-time for a career in DII history and his 89 career TD passes is 21st all-time. Iciek, who is 33-3 as a starting QB, has thrown at least one TD pass in 36 straight games and has 15 games with three TD passes or more.