Hillsdale's Joe Glendening is Consensus All-American

Photo by Patrick Heckenlively

There was not a NCAA Division II All-American football team that did not have Hillsdale College running back Joe "The Show" Glendening (32) on its 1st team as the running back this season.

The latest and arguably the most well-researched and debated by its voters to name Glendening one of the nation's best was the All-America Team by D2Football.com.

The junior  rushed for 1,604 yards, or 160.4 per game, and scored 27 touchdowns. All were new HC single-season bests.

Glendening also caught 24 passes for 270 yards and four touchdowns in leading Hillsdale to an 8-3 record and its first outright GLIAC crown since 1988.

Joe also made Daktronics, The Little All-American Team (for NAIA, D2, and D3), Don Hansen, and the American Football Coaches Association first teams.

Facebook Page is Hillsdale Football Recruiting Central as Signing Day Nears

Stay up to the minute on reports of high school senior football players giving Hillsdale Coach Keith Otterbein their verbal commitment to joining the Charger program.

Check out our Facebook as reports and videos are posted. Post your own news of commitments if they haven't made the press yet.

You can also follow all of the updates on the Chargerblue Twitter feed. 

MLive.com: Vicksburg LB Mallery finds right fit at Hillsdale

Scott DeCamp | Kalamazoo Gazette, January 18, 2012 9:03 p.m.

VICKSBURG — To say Drew Mallery has his heart set on playing linebacker is not entirely accurate.
"No, not at all. I was willing to play any position," the Vicksburg senior said about his college football recruitment. "I'm still willing to play any position that coach sees will help the team most."
Hillsdale College sees the 6-foot-2, 225-pounder as a linebacker in its program. And don't get Mallery wrong — he's not disappointed. Everything seemed right at Hillsdale, so he committed to the Chargers.
"It's really a great compliment because not many people get to go play college football, let alone the position they love," said Mallery, a Gazette all-area performer who had 149 tackles in the 2011 season, including 22 for loss, five sacks, four forced fumbles and three recoveries.
"Being linebacker, the way I would compare it, it's basically the quarterback of the defense. I was making calls, making checks at the line — just a sense of leadership that you can give while you're out there."
Mallery, a 3.8 student who plans to major in sports management and minor in finance, is receiving "the highest football (scholarship) money that they can give," Vicksburg coach Tom Marchese said about the Chargers, who won the 2011 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title.

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Hillsdale College releases 2012 Football Schedule

2012 Hillsdale College football schedule

Sat. Sept. 1  TBA  TBA
Sat. Sept. 8   vs. Ohio Dominican 7:00
Sat. Sept. 15   vs. Malone 7:00 
Sat. Sept. 22    at Notre Dame College TBA    
Sat. Sept. 29   vs. Northern Michigan 1:30 
Sat. Oct. 6   at Wayne State TBA 
Sat. Oct. 13   at Ferris State TBA
Sat. Oct. 20   vs. Saginaw Valley State 1:30
Sat. Oct. 27   vs. Grand Valley State 2:30 
Sat. Nov. 3   at Michigan Tech 1:00
Sat. Nov. 10   at Northwood 12:00 
Sat. Nov. 17   First Round NCAA Playoffs 
Sat. Nov. 24   Second Round NCAA Playoffs


The Chargers are still in the process of finding a non-conference opponent for its opener. Notre Dame, Ferris, and Wayne State have not yet set kickoff times.

        

Observer and Eccentric: Lathrup grad Otterbein remains a Charger at heart

Keith Otterbein has been a Charger for most of his football life. He played at Southfield-Lathrup in the ‘70s under coach Darrell Harper, then played college football at Hillsdale — also nicknamed the Chargers — and coached at Hillsdale after his graduation. Otterbein moved on to other jobs, then returned to Hillsdale 10 years ago as the head coach.

After steadily building up the Hillsdale program for five years, Otterbein's current Chargers have posted a 42-16 record in the past five seasons while reaching the NCAA Division II playoffs twice, the first D-II playoff appearances in Hillsdale's history. For his efforts, Otterbein was named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) coach of the year this season, for the second time in three years.

Otterbein traces his success back to lessons learned as an assistant at Hillsdale under head coach Dick Lowery, under coach Herb Deromedi at Central Michigan, and “all the way back to the way we did things and the detail coach Harper showed us as high school players. All those things are part of what has evolved into my philosophy as a head coach.”

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