For the Reporter

Menlo College’s Cam Grad, a former three-sport star at Auburn Riverside, has been named a finalist for the second annual Cliff Harris Award presented to the nation’s top small college defensive player.

Grad, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior linebacker, recorded 65 total tackles – 44 solo and 21 assisted – and a team-best six sacks this past seasons for the Oaks (3-7), an NAIA Division college in Atherton, Calif.

Grad ranks fifth all-time at Menlo College with 14.5 career sacks and fifth in career tackles with 163 stops. Grad is the first player from Menlo College to be named a finalist for this award.

Grad will to play in the NAIA all-star game in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Dec. 20.

At Menlo College, Grad played all four years, never missing a game. He was captain of the Oaks the past two years.

He is scheduled to graduate in May.

At Auburn Riverside, Grad was a three-sport athlete. He was an all-league performer as a tight end and linebacker, and was named the school’s Scholar Athlete of the Year. He was a second-team all-league basketball player.

Grad is the son of Lori and Dennis Grad.

The Little Rock (Ark.) Touchdown Club and Wright, and Lindsey & Jennings LLP recently announced the finalists, a list that includes 38 Division II players, 18 Division III players and 14 players from NAIA.

An overall winner will be announced Dec. 24 and honored at the Little Rock Touchdown Club’s annual awards banquet in February. The winner receives the $3,000 Cliff Harris Award trophy presented by Harris, a former Dallas Cowboy great, and featured speaker Michael Irvin, an NFL Hall of Fame member and former Cowboy.

For the story of Harris, go to www.CliffHarrisAward.com.