Hartly, DE - The Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN) has announced nominees for the football fan poll National Player of the Year. Fans across the country can cast their vote by visiting HSRN.Com.  Voting will be up on the HSRN.com home page (Fan Poll) until Wednesday (Dec. 16) at 6pm (CST).  Each week during the 2009 season HSRN honored the top-performances on the gridiron for Division I FCS and Div. II and to add to the excitement, fans across the country were the ones that got into the action by casting votes for who they thought had the top performance in HBCU football.  To close out the season, we are giving the fans another opportunity to cast their votes for the top performer of the year.  The nominees were selected from the Players of the Year in each of the HBCU conferences.
 
Division I – FCS
Curtis Pulley – Florida A&M (SR-QB/Hopkinsville, KY) – MEAC Offensive Player of the Year – led the MEAC in total offense with 2,705 yards and ranked third in rushing and passing.  Pulley completed 60% of his passes, (137 of 226) with 1,824 yards and 12 touchdowns.  He also led Rattlers in rushing with 881 yards on 122 carries and six touchdowns.
Christian Anthony – Grambling St. (JR-DE/Birmingham, AL) SWAC Defensive Player of the Year – led the SWAC in solo tackles (55) and finished with 76 tackles.  He was third in the conference in sacks (8.0), second in tackles for loss (15.0) and was the only defensive lineman in the country with five interceptions, two of them were returned for touchdowns.  Also led the SWAC in forced fumbles (5) and fumbles recovered (3).
George Howard – Morgan St. (SR-LB/Chesapeake, VA) MEAC Defensive Player of the Year – led the MEAC in tackles with 130 (11.8 pg) including 73 solo and 57 assisted.  He ranks in the top-five in the FCS in tackles per game.  Also recorded nine tackles for a loss of 40 yards, one pass break-up, two QB hurries and three forced fumbles.
K.J. Black – Prairie View (JR-QB/Louisville, KY) SWAC Offensive Player of the Year – completed 144 of 202 passes (71.3%) for 1,775 yards and 19 touchdowns, with only four interceptions.  He ranked second in the FCS in passing efficiency rating, leading the Panthers to their first SWAC football championship game.
 
Division II
Quintez Smith –Shaw (SR-DB/Dublin, GA) CIAA Defensive Player of the Year – led the country in interceptions (9) for 302 yards and four touchdowns, with a long of 90 yards.  He also accumulated 49 total tackles (35 solos).  He was named 1st Team All America by the American Football Coaches Association and Daktronics.
A.J. McKenna –Albany State (SR-QB/Scranton, PA) SIAC Offensive Player of the Year – accumulated 2,355 yards of total offense, including 2,027 passing yards and 19 touchdowns.  He led the conference in each category.
C.J. Westler – Chowan (SR-QB/Marion, OH) CIAA Offensive Player of the Year – finished the season leading the CIAA in passing average (285.6 pg), completing 234 of 432 passes for 2,856 yards.  He also had 240 yards rushing giving him 309.6 yards per game average in total offense.  He also finished with two rushing touchdowns and threw for 25 touchdowns.
Justin Hannah – Tuskegee (SR-DB/Birmingham, AL) SIAC Defensive Player of the Year – finished with three interceptions as teams threw away from him, two of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns.  He also finished with 44 tackles (29 solo), five pass breakups and eight passes defended.