Wheaton, Ill. - Wheaton senior linebacker Eric Stevenson has been named as a finalist for the 2018 Cliff Harris Award, which is given to the nation's top small-college defensive player. The finalists are chosen from over 5,000 defensive players representing more than 500 NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA institutions.

Stevenson is among 81 finalists for the award, including 35 from Division III. Additionally, there are 31 finalists from Division II and 15 from NAIA institutions. He is the fourth-consecutive Wheaton player to be named as a finalist for the award in its five-year history joining Adam Dansdill (2015), Caleb Ashby (2016) and Chase Greenlee. Wheaton is one of only two Division III teams to have four different players named as a finalist in four-consecutive years since the award's inception in 2013.

The winner will be announced on December 24 and honored at the Little Rock Touchdown Club's annual awards banquet January 10, 2018. The winner will receive the Cliff Harris Award and the top vote-getters from each division will also be announced.

Stevenson, the 2018 CCIW Don Larson Defensive Player of the Year is a two-time First Team All-CCIW honoree.The senior  is a unanimous Division III First Team All-American this season, earning selection to all three Division III All-American Teams: American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Associated Press and D3football.com. He was named a semifinalist for the Gagliardi Trophy and was this year's only Division III finalist for the Campbell Trophy.  Stevenson was named to the 2018 Google Cloud Academic All-America Team for the second-consecutive season to become the first Wheaton football player to repeat as an Academic All-American since 1995

Stevenson made a team-high 74 total tackles this fall, including 41 solo stops. The senior registered 9.5 tackles for lost yardage (-29 yards), including two quarterback sacks (-13 yards). 

Wheaton's leading tackler in each of the past three seasons, Stevenson made 268 career tackles, including 150 solo tackles. The linebacker made 27 tackles for loss (-79 yards) in his career, with 5-1/2 sacks (-27 yards).