LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Colorado State University Pueblo senior receiver Reggie Retzlaff (Corona, Calif./Riverside City College) is one of eight finalists for the 2024 Harlon Hill Award, given to the most outstanding football player in NCAA Division II as announced by the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Wednesday morning.
 
The top two players from each of the four Super Regions advanced to the national ballot and Retzlaff was the only receiver chosen as a finalist. The other finalists include five quarterbacks and two running backs. The eight finalists will now be placed on the national ballot where all 177 of the division's school and conference SIDs will select the 38th winner.
 
Retzlaff, who is the first ThunderWolves football player to be named a finalist for the award since Cameron McDondle was a finalist in 2015, is joined as a finalist for the 2024 award by Slippery Rock senior quarterback Brayden Long, Charleston (W.Va.) junior running back Chavon Wright, Virginia Union senior running back Jada Byers, Valdosta State senior quarterback Sammy Edwards, Ferris State junior quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, Central Missouri senior quarterback Zach Zebrowski and Angelo State junior quarterback Braeden Fuller. Long and Wright were the top vote getters from Super Region 1, while Byers and Edwards represent Super Region Two and Chambliss and Zebrowski are from Super Region Four. The other Super Region Four finalist is Fuller.
 
This season, Retzlaff led the Pack to a 10-2 record, an NCAA Division II Playoff appearance, the program's ninth all-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference title, and first outright title since 2015. Retzlaff was named the RMAC Offensive Player of the Year after leading the RMAC in receiving touchdowns (12), receiving yards per game (116.9), and receiving yards (1,228) and was second in the RMAC in receptions per game (6.1) and all-purpose yards per game (112.5). He caught a single-season school record 67 passes for a single-season school record 1,228 yards and tied the single-season record for touchdown receptions with 12. He ranks in the Top 10 in Division II in touchdown receptions, receiving yards, and receiving yards per game, and his 24 career touchdown passes are tied for tops on the school's all-time chart.
 
On the season, Retzlaff, who was a two-time RMAC Offensive Player of the Week and the NFF Colorado Chapter Player of the Week on Sept. 10, caught at least seven passes in six games, tallied 100 or more receiving yards in a game six times, including a single-game school record 241 yards in the Pack's 35-6 season-opening win at South Dakota Mines. He also hauled in two or more touchdown catches in four games.
 
He leads all Colorado football receivers (all levels) in receiving yards and is second in pass-receiving yards. Retzlaff is one of two players in school history to record 1,000 or more receiving yards in a season. Recorded a team-high 20 plays of 20 or more yards on the season, including a 76-yard touchdown reception from junior quarterback Roman Fuller (Decatur, Texas/University of Tulsa) at Western Colorado, which is the longest offensive play of the season. Eight of his 12 touchdown receptions went for 20 or more yards and sits eighth among active Division II players with 24 career touchdown receptions and third among active Division II players in career yards per catch (17.7).
 
All eight finalists guided their teams to postseason play – seven to the NCAA Division II playoff and one to a bowl game. Four of the eight finalists will compete in this weekend's quarterfinals of the NCAA playoffs.
 
Zebrowksi is the reigning Harlon Hill Trophy winner as he captured the award last season and is looking to become the fifth player to win the award in back-to-back years. In addition to Zebrowski, Byers is a two-time finalist as he finished fourth in 2022, while Edwards and Long are finalist for the second consecutive season. Wright became Charleston's first-ever finalist.
 
The Hill Award 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 NFL with the Chicago Bears. The winner of the 2024 award will be announced on Friday, Dec. 20, which is one day prior to the Division II National Championship game that is being held in McKinney, Texas. The trophy is presented by the LRTC and the Great American Conference.