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FLORENCE, Ala. — Shippensburg University junior quarterback Zach Zulli was named the 2012 Harlon Hill Trophy winner on Friday night as the top football player in NCAA Division II. The 27th annual ceremony was held at the Marriott Shoals Conference Center.

“I never would have expected this. This is really incredible, but I share this award with all of my teammates,” said Zulli – who is only the seventh underclassman to ever win the Hill Trophy. “Nothing feels better than this.”

Zulli tallied 202 points, including 52 first-place votes, to record a 64-point margin over Missouri Western's Michael Hill. Bloomsburg's Franklyn Quiteh finished third with 101 points.

“We had a heck of a season, and this isn't just a single nomination – it's a team nomination,” Zulli said. “I give credit to everyone at Shippensburg University and (our) football team.”

Zulli led all divisions of college football this season with 54 touchdown passes, which tied the Division II single-season record. He also paced Division II with 4,747 passing yards, ranking second among all divisions (Old Dominion's FCS All-American quarterback Taylor Heinicke threw for 5,076 yards).

“It's a big accomplishment,” Zulli admitted. “Being up there with those guys is incredible. Having this award as mine is pretty special. It's just going to make me work harder now for next year.”

His numerous accomplishments this season include tying the NCAA single-season record for touchdown passes in a season and breaking NCAA single-season records for points responsible for in a season (344) and touchdowns responsible for in a season (57).

Of the 45 new individual school records set by Shippensburg this season, 25 have been broken by Zulli, including single-game passing yards (581 at Kutztown), single-game passing touchdowns (9 at Kutztown; tying PSAC record), single-season total offense yards (4,971) and single-season completion percentage (62.9).

In 2005, the PSAC also had two of the three finalists for the Harlon Hill Trophy. Bloomsburg running back Jamar Brittingham was voted third overall, while East Stroudsburg quarterback Jimmy Terwilliger won the award. The only other PSAC player to win a Harlon Hill award is Irv Sigler, who was honored in 1997.

The banquet included the induction of two of the division's all-time greats into the Division II Football Hall of Fame as former Kutztown University linebacker John Mobley and former Fort Valley State University (Ga.) defensive back Tyrone Poole comprise the Hall's Class of 2012.

The award winner is determined in voting by the Division II sports information directors.

The Harlon Hill Trophy is sponsored by the City of Florence, Ala., Florence-Lauderdale Tourism, Opti-Net, the Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa and Herff Jones. Candidates for the 2012 Hill Trophy were nominated by the sports information directors at their respective schools and those nominations were then reviewed by the Hill Regional Advisory Committees, which trimmed the list of candidates.

Of note:
• Zulli's 202 points in this year's voting is the highest since 2008 and is the ninth highest total in the award's 27-year history.
• With Zulli first and Quiteh third, it marked just the fourth time that two student-athletes from the same conference finished in the Top Three (including '05 with Terwilliger and Brittingham).
• Following Zulli, Hill and Quiteh in the voting were junior quarterback Dustin Vaughan of West Texas A&M (68 points), senior quarterback Taylor Housewright of Ashland University (64), sophomore quarterback Kevin Rodgers of Henderson State University (61), senior running back Derrick Washington of Tuskegee University (48) and senior wide receiver Chris Bowden of Wingate University (32).
• 119 ballots were cast for the 2012 award.