LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – On Monday morning, the Great American Conference and the Little Rock Touchdown Club announced the national finalists for the 33
rd Harlon Hill Trophy. Among the nine Division II Football standouts is Southern Arkansas Football redshirt-senior wide receiver Ka'Ronce Higgins; one of three finalists from Super Region 3 and the first Mulerider in program history to advance to the final ballot.
The announcement came at the top of the 8 o'clock hour from GAC Associate Commissioner for Communications, Eric Moyer via Little Rock's popular sports talk radio station KABZ 103.7 The Buzz.
The NCAA Division II sports information directors selected the finalists through a round of regional voting. The nine finalists will now be placed on the national ballot where all 166 of the division's SIDs will select the award's 33rd winner. The top two players from Super Region 1, Super Region 2 and Super Region 4 advanced to the national ballot, while Super Region 3 saw three players make the final ballot, due to a tie in the voting.
Five quarterbacks, two running backs, one wide receiver and a defensive end comprised the list of 2018 finalists. Higgins is joined on the final ballot by Jaleel McLaughlin (Notre Dame College FR RB – SR1), Chance Stewart (Hillsdale SR QB – SR1), Amir Hall (Bowie State SR QB – SR2), Rogan Wells (Valdosta State SO QB – SR2), Jayru Campbell (Ferris State JR QB – SR3), Braxton Marstall (Emporia State SR QB – SR3), Markus Jones (Angelo State SR DE – SR4), and Gabriel Watson (Sioux Falls JR RB – SR4).
Higgins, a native of Searcy, Arkansas, was most recently named as a unanimous selection to the All-Great American Conference First-Team after an 11-game regular season that saw the gifted speedster lead the league in all-purpose yards per game (116.2), touchdown receptions (9), receiving yards (1,083 | 11th in D2), and receiving ypg (98.5 | 13th in DII).
Additionally, Higgins' name now sits atop a pair of prestigious program records as his 191 career receptions and 2,902 yards receiving are now school bests. With his 1,000 yard receiving campaign in 2018, Higgins became just the second wide out to reach that yard mark in program history.
In a career-best effort on the road at Southwestern Oklahoma State, Higgins was one reception shy of the SAU single-game record for receptions after hauling in 13 passes and tallied the second-most receiving yards in a game with 237, while adding three touchdowns. For that performance, Higgins nabbed GAC Offensive Player of the Week honors and was also named the D2Football.com National Offensive Player of the Week.
One of the nation's biggest receiving threats, Higgins recorded 25 plays of 25 or more yards this season, while 39 of his 66 catches went for a first down, including seven of his touchdown grabs.
Higgins registered eight games with five or more receptions and five games with at least seven catches and tallied six games with 80 or more receiving yards including four games with at least 115 receiving yards.
With one game to go this season and in his collegiate career (Live United Bowl vs. Missouri Western – Dec. 1), Higgins, through 11 games, has totaled 1,278 all-purpose yards in 2018 at an average of 116.2 all-purpose yards per game. He ranks fifth all-time in program history with 3,607 all-purpose yards.
The sports information directors at the 166 NCAA Division II football-playing institutions nominate and vote on the award. The 39 initial candidates were placed on regional ballots and the top two players from each of the four NCAA regions advanced to the national ballot with voting set to begin Wednesday, November 28.
The sports information directors at their respective schools initially nominate candidates. The SIDs in those Super Regions vote for their top five candidates. The winner is then determined in a nation-wide vote of the Division II sports information directors.
The winner of the 2018 award will be announced on Friday, December 14 and the winner will be honored at the Little Rock Touchdown Club awards banquet on January 10, 2019.
The Hill Trophy is named for the late Harlon Hill - the former University of North Alabama standout - who excelled with the Lions from 1950-53 before going on to fame in the National Football League with the Chicago Bears.
It is the first year that the prestigious award is being sponsored by the Great American Conference and the Little Rock Touchdown Club after the trophy was presented by Hill's alma mater for the past 32 years.
