LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Following a record-setting senior season Maritime defensive end Hugh O'Brien (Westbury, N.Y./Westbury) was selected as a nominee for the 2014 Cliff Harris Award. The award is given to the top defensive player in the country representing Division II, III and NAIA colleges and universities.
 
The winner of the award will be announced later this month after the selection committee sifts through the 107 nominees spanning the three divisions of competition.
 
O'Brien is the only member of the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference on the ballot, and is just one of 33 NCAA Division III student-athletes selected as a nominee.
 
The selection committee is comprised of several Pro Football Hall of Famers including Dallas Cowboy legends Roger Staubach and Cliff Harris, for whom the award is named after. The award was introduced in 2013, with Pierre Desir of Lindenwood University winning the inaugural award, Desir was later drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
 
As just one of Maritime's two defensive captains, O'Brien put together a superb senior season and overall career at Maritime during his four seasons in Throggs Neck. He set a number of records for Maritime in his four seasons with the team, as he was second on the team this year with 80 tackles. He also had 18 tackles for a loss in yardage to place him 26th in all of Division III.
 
On the year he also had 6.5 sacks to finish first on the All-Time sacks list with 18.5 for his career, as well as a first place standing on tackles for a loss with 45 such tackles. This season, he was a one-time ECFC Defensive Player of the Week.
 
For more information on Cliff Harris and the Cliff Harris Award, please visit CliffHarrisAward.com.