2023 Don Hansen NCAA Division II All-America Teams
As the awards season for the 2023 NCAA DII football campaign draws to a close, Hillsdale College senior tailback Michael Herzog is bringing home one more honor, as announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Herzog was selected as one of two first team All-American running backs by the Don Hansen Football Committee, his fourth All-American honor of 2023 and his second first-team honor.
The Don Hansen Football Committee awards All-American teams for NCAA DII football on an annual basis in honor of small college football advocate Don Hansen, who published Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette for three decades and first selected a NCAA DII All-American team in 1988. Hansen, a Brookfield, Illinois native, passed away in 2010, and the committee has carried on his work ever since.
Prior to being named a first-team All-American by the Don Hansen Football Committee, Herzog had previously been named a first-team All-American by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association, and a second-team All-American by both D2Football.com and the Associated Press in December.
These honors are fitting in a year full of them for the dynamic rusher, who was recognized earlier this month as Hillsdale's first Harlon Hill Trophy finalist since 2018, and in Novermber as Hillsdale's first Great Midwest Athletic Conference co-MVP since 2018 as well.
Herzog put together a stellar campaign in 2023 as a senior for the Chargers, breaking or tying five G-MAC records while also ranking among the top running backs in the country at the NCAA DII level throughout. He led the G-MAC in carries (230), rushing yards (1,333), rushing touchdowns (21), yards per game average (121.2), scoring (11.5 points per game), All-Purpose yards (172.2 per game), single game rushing attempts (28 against Michigan Tech) and single-game rushing touchdowns (five against Ohio Dominican), while ranking in the top 10 in the nation at the NCAA DII level in all of those categories, and in the top five in many of them.
In the process of his historic season, Herzog broke G-MAC records for single season rushing touchdowns, finishing with 21 to surpass Daouda Sylla of Findlay's old record of 19, and, with 126 total points scored, also broke the record for points in a single season of 114 held by Sylla and former Hillsdale great David Graham. All told, his 2023 season ranks in the top four in G-MAC history in rushing yards, touchdowns, attempts, rushing yards per game and all-purpose yards.
His epic game in Hillsdale's 35-17 win over Ohio Dominican to finish the 2023 season and cap Herzog's career will live in legends for years to come. Against a defense that was surrendering 88 yards on the ground on average entering the contest, Herzog rushed for 175 yards on 20 carries and five touchdowns, breaking the G-MAC record for rushing touchdowns in a single contest and tying the Hillsdale record for single game rushing touchdowns, held jointly by Gordon Piatt (1939), Nate Clark (1955) and Willis Miles (1982).
While he did most of his damage as a rusher, Herzog also was one of the top return specialists in the G-MAC as well for the Chargers, with 511 kickoff return yards and an average of 18.9 yards per return.
It's an impressive finish for a player who came to Hillsdale as a wide receiver before moving to tailback, and then missed both the spring 2021 Covid season and the fall 2021 campaign with a knee injury suffered in practice. The painful adversity didn't shake Herzog in the slightest, as he attacked rehab with ferocity and returned to the squad in 2022 to finish his career as one of the all-time great running backs in Hillsdale College history. He ends his career ranked eighth all-time at Hillsdale in career rushing yardage with 2,273 accumulated in just two seasons, and his 2023 season ranks in the top 10 all-time at Hillsdale in rushing yards, touchdowns and attempts as well.
In earning All-American honors, Herzog extends Hillsdale's streak of seasons with at least one All-American to five, dating back to 2018. He's Hillsdale's first All-American running back since David Graham in 2019 and just Hillsdale's fourth All-American running back since moving to the NCAA Division II level in 1990, joining Graham, Scott Schulte (1992-93) and Joe Glendening (2010, 2011, 2012).
The senior tailback is the first Charger since Glendening in 2012 to earn All-American honors from more than two awarding committees in the same calendar year. He is currently training for the Canadian Football League draft, scheduled to take place this spring.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan