ST. LOUIS, Mo. – University of San Diego wide receiver Ja’Seem Reed and defensive back Eric Haney are the 2024 Pioneer Football League’s Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, leading the list of the league’s award winners as selected by the PFL’s head coaches and presented Monday.

Valparaiso punter Sam Johnson is the league’s Special Teams Player of the Year and Drake head coach Todd Stepsis claimed his second consecutive Coach of the Year award. The league’s top freshmen were Presbyterian quarterback Collin Hurst, and Marist linebacker James Kratochvil, who earned Offensive and Defensive Freshman of the Year, respectively.

The PFL Awards announcement launches the league’s awards week. The PFL will announce its 32nd All-PFL Teams on Tuesday. The league will announce its Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday, coinciding with the announcement of the 32nd Academic All-PFL teams. 

Reed, a Thousand Oaks, California product, was the PFL’s lone 1,000-yard receiver in 2024. His 1,052 receiving yards, 12 touchdown receptions, 7.0 receptions per game, and 95.6 receiving yards per game all led the league, and he finished fifth in scoring (6.5 points per game). Reed’s 12 touchdown receptions were fourth most in the FCS, and he was among only 14 FCS receivers who amassed 1,000 receiving yards in 2024. He had four 100-yard receiving games, including 186 yards against Davidson on Nov. 22. He becomes the ninth San Diego athlete to win the league’s top offensive award and the first since alumnus Anthony Lawrence won the honor in 2018 and 2019.

Haney, from Peoria, Arizona, recorded a career-high 63 tackles, including four for loss, and had 10 passes defended, including two interceptions this season. He led a San Diego defense that was the league’s top unit in pass efficiency defense (104.05) and was second in the FCS with six defensive touchdowns. Haney had one pick-six during the season – a 46-yarder against Marist on Oct. 19. His 5.7 tackles per game were 20th among PFL tacklers in 2024, and his 10 passes defended were fourth in the league. Haney is the seventh San Diego defender to win the PFL’s defensive award.

Haney and Reed are the first teammates to sweep the PFL’s offensive and defensive awards since 2021 when Morehead State wide receiver B.J. Byrd and defensive lineman Vaughn Taylor Jr. swept the honors. Since the return to single-division play in 2005, it is only the fourth time teammates have claimed the awards.

Johnson, a Birmingham, Alabama native, shattered the PFL’s single-season punting record by averaging 47.13 yards per punt in 2024, third best in the FCS and second among punters with 60-plus attempts. He broke the record of 43.64 yards per punt set by the Beacons’ Greg Wood in 2010. Johnson’s 63-punt campaign included 24 punts of 50-plus yards, 20 punts downed inside the 20-yard line, and only five touchbacks. It is the second time a Valparaiso punter has earned the Special Teams Player of the Year Award, which started in 2015, and he joins Ben Niesner, who won the honor in 2020.  

Hurst powered Presbyterian to its best season as a member of the PFL, becoming one of the league’s top quarterbacks as a redshirt freshman. The Davie, Florida product led the league in passing efficiency (154.84). He also was among the league’s Top 3 in total offense (213.08 yards per game), offensive touchdowns (22), passing yards (198.50 per game), and completion percentage (66.55). He did not throw an interception in his final five games of the season (135 attempts) and was responsible for 10 touchdowns as the Blue Hose closed with four consecutive wins. It is the second time a Blue Hose player has claimed Offensive Freshman of the Year honors, with running back Delvecchio Powell II claiming the 2020 edition.

Kratochvil was Marist’s top defender in 2024 and was one of three PFL athletes with a league-leading four interceptions. All four of his picks came in league play, including a two-interception game against Stetson on Nov. 9. Kratochvil also had interceptions against Dayton and Drake. The Randolph, New Jersey product led the Red Foxes with 55 tackles and was 30th among all PFL defenders in tackles per game (5.0). Kratochvil is the second Marist athlete to earn the Defensive Freshman of the Year, joining 2016 winner Peter Delatour.

Stepsis is the PFL Coach of the Year for a second consecutive year after leading Drake to its second-straight PFL Championship and eighth all-time. The Bulldogs posted a second-consecutive eight-win season, including a statement win at Eastern Washington on Sept. 7, downing the Eagles in double overtime. Drake also ran its PFL win streak to 17 games – the second-longest league win streak – before seeing it end in the regular season’s penultimate week. The Bulldogs are now 19-7 in their last 26 games, dating back to a three-game win streak to end the 2022 season.

About the Pioneer Football League
The Pioneer Football League is the only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. The PFL is a truly national conference with members on each coast and throughout the nation’s heartland. Butler University, the University of Dayton, Drake University, and Valparaiso University were among the league’s founding members in 1993, with Davidson College, Marist College, Morehead State University, Presbyterian College, the University of San Diego, the University of St. Thomas, and Stetson University joining to form the current 11-team league.