Chyron Brown-Wallace earned another postseason honor on Christmas Eve when it was announced that the senior defensive tackle for the St. Lawrence University football team was the nation's top Division III vote recipient for the prestigious Cliff Harris Award for the top small college defensive player of the year.
Division II linebacker Conner Harris from Lindenwood University was the overall winner of the 2016 Cliff Harris Award. Brown-Wallace was the top Division III vote recipient and Sam Van Ginkel from Northwestern College was the top vote recipient from an NAIA school.
Brown-Wallace is a two-time AFCA and D3football.com first team All-America selection and led a dominating St. Lawrence defense that finished the season ranked among the top 15 teams in the country in seven different defensive categories including scoring defense where the Saints finished second in the nation.
The Saints opened the season with three consecutive shutouts and won the first eight games of the season.
Brown-Wallace finished with 52 tackles, 18 for loss and seven sacks. He was voted the Defensive Player of the Year in the Liberty League and was a first team All-Liberty League selection for the third consecutive year.
The award is named in honor of former Dallas Cowboy great Cliff Harris, an Arkansas native who was offered only one scholarship to then-NAIA Ouachita Baptist University. Harris was passed over for the 1970 NFL draft. He signed a free agent contract with the Cowboys and then helped Dallas to five Super Bowl appearances during the next decade. The hard-hitting Harris played in six Pro Bowls and changed the way the position of free safety was played.
"I continue to be extremely impressed with the defensive talent and accomplishments of our finalists and nominees from across the country," said Harris. "With more than 50 All-Americans and 50 Conference Defensive Players of the Year as finalists, this season was especially challenging to select a winner. These athletes are remarkable defensive players with amazing seasons and careers and the voting is razor thin among many of them in all divisions."