FLORENCE, Ala. --- The final results are in and Tusculum College quarterback Bo Cordell finished fourth in the voting for the 2010 Harlon Hill Trophy, which recognizes the NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year Award.

Senior quarterback Eric Czerniewski of Central Missouri was this year's recipient in the closest voting in the 25-year history of the award. Czerniewski received 164 points, six more than West Liberty senior Zach Amedro, who finished runner-up for the award for a second straight year. Northwest Missouri State Blake Bolles finished third with 64 points.

Cordell was fourth with 51 points and was the top ranked underclassmen in the nation. Mitchell Gale of Abilene Christian was fifth with 47 points, followed by Bloomsburg freshman running back Franklyn Quiteh (45), Michigan Tech senior quarterback Phil Milbrath (32), junior Clay Garcia of Colorado School of Mines (25) and senior Nick Hardesty of Henderson State (20).

Cordell's fourth place finish for Division II's top individual award is the best in school history and matches the highest finish in South Atlantic Conference history.

Cordell, a 6-1, 195-pound sophomore from Cincinnati, Ohio, recorded one of the finest passing performances in NCAA history. The 2010 South Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Year passed for a school and SAC record 4,657 yards. His 423.26 passing yards per game average was the best in college football this season (NCAA, all divisions).

Cordell threw for 38 touchdowns, a new school single-season mark and the 20th most in NCAA II history. He has also established school and SAC records with 394 completions (3rd in NCAA II history), 605 pass attempts (3rd in NCAA II history) and 702 total offensive attempts (3rd in NCAA II history).

In 2010, Cordell averaged 425.45 total offensive yards per game, which is currently the best in NCAA II. He passed for over 400 yards in nine consecutive games this season, which is a new TC, SAC and NCAA II record. He also leads the nation in completions per game (35.82 cpg) and points responsible for per game (26.00 ppg). Cordell was named SAC Offensive Player of the Week four times this year and twice honored as national offensive player of the week by D2football.com and D2 Sports Insider.

The 2010 Daktronics All-Super Region 2 First Team honoree is the second player in league history to be named SAC Offensive Freshman of the Year and followed the next season with SAC Player of the Year accolades. The only other time was Presbyterian College signal caller Todd Cunningham, who was the 1998 Freshman of the Year and followed with three-straight SAC Player of Year titles (1999, 2000, 2001).

For his young 21-game career, he is already second in school history with 8,115 passing yards and 61 touchdowns (6th in SAC history for both). His 386.4 career passing yards per game average is on pace to be a new NCAA II record.

Cordell joins former All-America cornerback Ricardo Colclough and All-America quarterback Corey Russell as the only three Tusculum players to have advanced to the Harlon Hill Trophy national ballot. Colclough finished fifth in the national voting in 2003, while Russell placed sixth on the 2008 final ballot.

Cordell is also only the seventh South Atlantic Conference player to have been named a national finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy. Lenoir-Rhyne running back Leonard Davis was the first SAC player to be a finalist as he finished fourth in the 1994 voting. Carson-Newman running back Tyrone Westmoreland placed fourth for the award in 1997, while Presbyterian's Todd Cunningham was amongst the final eight in 1999 (7th) and again in 2001 (6th). C-N signal caller Leonard Guyton was a finalist in 2002 (4th), followed by Colclough (2003) and Russell (2008) from Tusculum.

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2010 Harlon Hill Trophy Results
Pts Player Pos. Yr. School 1st 2nd 3rd
164 Eric Czerniewski QB SR Central Missouri 35 22 15
158 Zach Amedro QB SR West Liberty 34 24 8
64 Blake Bolles QB SR NW Missouri State 6 16 14
51 Bo Cordell QB SO Tusculum 6 13 7
47 Mitchell Gale QB SO Abilene Christian 6 7 15
45 Franklyn Quiteh RB FR Bloomsburg 6 4 19
32 Phil Milbrath RB SR Michigan Tech 1 10 9
25 Clay Garcia QB JR Colorado-Mines 4 4 5
20 Nick Hardesty QB SR Henderson State 3 1 9