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Valero Cactus Bowl Attracts All-Americans
December 30, 2009
KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – The Valero Cactus Bowl has annually attracted some of the top talent in NCAA Division II and this year is no different. There are nine American Football Coaches Association All-Americans and 20 Daktronics All-Americans playing in this year’s game. The Valero Cactus Bowl kicks off on Friday, January 8 at 6:35 p.m. at Javelina Stadium. One of the biggest changes to this year’s game has been the addition of four more players to the roster bringing the total to 85 players this year. The players will arrive in Kingsville on Saturday, January 2. They will go through NFL testing on Sunday and start practice on Monday. There are four Harlon Hill Trophy finalists playing in this year’s game. Arkansas Tech quarterback Nick Graziano finished in third place in the voting and earned first team AFCA and Daktronics All-American honors. He set Gulf South Conference single-season marks for passing (4,313 yards) and total offense (4,768 yards). Grand Valley State quarterback Brad Iciek finished fourth in the voting and is a three-time finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy. He owns the fourth highest career passer efficiency rating (168.47) in NCAA Division II history. He finished his career with a 36-4 record. He is the NCAA career leader (1.82%) and single season leader (0.6%) for lowest percentage of passes intercepted. Northwest Missouri State running back La’Ron Council finished eighth in the voting. He led NWSU to four NCAA Division II National Championship games and won a championship this year. The 2009 MIAA Most Valuable Offensive Player, Council twice ran for more than 200 yards in a game and posted a career-high 216 yards in a national semifinal win against California ( Pa. ) this past December. He finished with 19 100-yard efforts and averaged 5.7 yards per carry for his career. Council ran for 1,739 yards and 35 touchdowns in 2008 and 1,782 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2009. The fourth finalist is Edinboro quarterback Trevor Harris who finished ninth in the voting for the HH Trophy. He concluded his career with 11,899 yards passing and 12,691 total yards of offense which was good for fifth and sixth, respectively all-time in NCAA Division II. He was a two-time Harlon Hill Trophy finalist and passed for 100 touchdown passes in his career. #### pr09369-smm
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