ERIE, Pa. - Gannon's Marc Jones (Painesville, Ohio/Riverside) finished runner-up in the final 2017 Harlon Hill Trophy vote count released Thursday afternoon via an online webcast. In its 32nd year of existence, the Harlon Hill Trophy is presented annually to the NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year.

Luis Perez of Texas A&M Commerce received the most votes with 198 points and 44 first-place votes. Jones finished second with 135 points and 22 first-place nods. He also secured 27 second-place votes and 15 third-place votes.

Three of the top four point totals came out of NCAA Division II Super Region One with Slippery Rock's Marcus Martin (96 points) and Shepherd's Connor Jessop (61 points) finishing third and fourth, respectively.

The remainder of the Harlon Hill voting included Bowie State's Amir Hall (50 points), Central Oklahoma's J.T. Luper (39 points), Humboldt State's Ja'Quan Gardner (24 points), Central Missouri's Brooke Boles (14 points), West Georgia's Devonte Jackson (12 points) and West Alabama's Harry Satterwhite (7 points).

Jones was one of 10 national finalists for the prestigious award. The junior tailback is the first Gannon football student-athlete in school history to become a Harlon Hill finalist. He joined Gannon Hall of Famer Darmel Whitfield (2004) as the only two Golden Knights to be a candidate for the honor.

Jones' 2017 postseason resume already includes American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) All-America first team, NCAA Division II Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA) All-America first team, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division Offensive Player of the Year and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Offensive Player of the Year. He became the first Golden Knight in program history to earn the ECAC top honor and second to capture the PSAC top accolade. Jones has also been named to both the PSAC Western Division and ECAC first teams.

The Painesville, Ohio native finished the campaign with 2,176 rushing yards, 29 rushing touchdowns, 24 receptions, 288 receiving yards, two receiving touchdowns, 186 total points and 2,464 all-purpose yards through 11 games. Jones leads all divisions of the NCAA in rushing yards per game (197.8). He tops NCAA Division II in rushing touchdowns, rushing yards per carry (8.09), total touchdowns (31), points per game (16.9) and total rushing yards. Jones also leads the PSAC and ranks second nationally in all-purpose yards per game (224.0) despite not returning a kickoff or punt.

Jones recorded a school-record 10 100-yard rushing performances while reaching the 180-yard plateau six times. He finished with Gannon single-season records for rushing yards, rushing yards per carry, 100-yard rushing games, rushing touchdowns, all-purpose yards, points and total touchdowns. His average of 197.7 rushing yards per game ranks eighth all-time in the history of NCAA Division II players while his 2,175 rushing yards were the 13th-highest single-season total in NCAA Division II history. Along the way, he broke PSAC single-game records for rushing yards (354 versus Slippery Rock) and rushing touchdowns (six versus Edinboro).

The 2017 production didn't have selective opponents as Jones generated offense every week. He averaged nearly 140 yards, 165 all-purpose yards and scored five touchdowns against Gannon's three opponents that qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament – Shippensburg, California (Pa.) and Indiana (Pa.). Jones rushed for over 200 yards in a game four times, scored a touchdown in every contest and had at least three scores in a game five times. He ranks second all-time at Gannon in career points (210), sixth in career rushing yards (2,631) and 10th in career all-purpose yards (3,069) despite playing only two seasons.

Jones has been in the national spotlight all year. He was featured in the October 27 edition of Sports Illustrated as part of the national magazine's "Faces in the Crowd" for his monster season. Jones was also selected as one of the top NCAA football plays by NCAA.com three times, including the No. 1 play twice. He was featured among NCAA.com's top plays of any sport at any level October 17 when he broke through a hole up the middle against Seton Hill, raced into the secondary, leaped over a safety and landed on his feet before racing into the end zone for a 52-yard touchdown. That leap and 52-yard touchdown was also tabbed No. 1 on the NCAA.com's football plays of the week list.

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