ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Presbyterian College sophomore quarterback Collin Hurst and Drake University senior linebacker Sean Allison are the Pioneer Football League’s 2025 Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, leading the list of the league’s annual award winners as selected by its head coaches and presented Monday.
University of San Diego sophomore kicker and punter Emiliano Salazar is the league’s Special Teams Player of the Year. Drake running back Nick Herman claims the Offensive Freshman of the Year and Marist University defensive back Chase Hatton is the Defensive Freshman of the Year. Presbyterian head coach Steve Englehart claimed his first Coach of the Year citation.
The PFL Awards announcement launches the league’s awards week. The PFL will announce its 33rd All-PFL Teams on Tuesday. The league will announce its Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday, coinciding with the announcement of the 33rd Academic All-PFL teams.
2025 Pioneer Football League Award Winners
Offensive Player of the Year: Collin Hurst, Presbyterian
Defensive Player of the Year: Sean Allison, Drake
Special Teams Player of the Year: Emiliano Salazar, San Diego
Offensive Freshman of the Year: Nick Herman, Drake
Defensive Freshman of the Year: Chase Hatton, Marist
Coach of the Year: Steve Englehart, Presbyterian
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: To be announced Wednesday |
Besides becoming the first Presbyterian athlete to earn the league’s top offensive honor, Hurst, a Davie, Florida product, becomes the first athlete in league history to earn the PFL Offensive Freshman of the Year award and then its Offensive Player of the Year honor in back-to-back seasons. He posted a 10-1 record as the Blue Host starting quarterback and led the league in passing efficiency (168.3, 7th in the FCS), passing touchdowns (26, 6th), completion percentage (68.2, 13th), passing yards (2,684, 18th), and points responsible for (176, 14th).
Allison, from Hinsdale, Illinois, becomes the sixth Drake athlete to claim the league’s Defensive Player of the Year honor. He finished the season with 126 total tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss, and two interceptions. Allison led the league and ranked among the FCS Top 12 in both total tackles per game (10.5, 7th in the FCS) and solo tackles per game (5.17, 12th). He led a Drake defense that held PFL opponents to 11.0 points per game and 287.6 yards per game, ranking first and second in the league. Allison had eight double-digit tackle outings, including a five-game streak of such outings to end the regular season.
Salazar, an Orange, California native, finished the season making 15-of-18 field goals and all 40 of his PATs while also averaging 44.76 yards per punt with 13 of his 37 punts going for 50-plus yards and also handled kickoff duties for the Toreros. He was the Toreros’ kickoff and PAT specialist for the season’s first four games before taking over all kicking duties in their PFL opener against St. Thomas. Still, Salazar finished the season second in punting average among PFL punters, thanks to his league-leading 50-yard punt count, and was one of three kickers to score 15 field goals during the season.
Chicago-native Herman was the PFL’s leading rusher as a freshman, finishing the season with 1,014 rushing yards on 144 carries with six rushing touchdowns and adding 120 receiving yards on 13 receptions. He led the league and ranked fourth in the FCS with 7.04 yards per carry and was 23rd in the FCS with his 84.5 rushing yards per game, which also led the PFL. Herman had four 100-yard rushing performances in 2025, all in PFL play, including a 253-yard outing to close the regular season.
For a second consecutive season and third time overall, a Marist athlete claims the league’s freshman defensive award, with West Chester, Pennsylvania, product Chase Hatton claiming the honor in 2025. He recorded 89 tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss, and four interceptions during the season. Hatton finished seventh among the PFL’s tacklers in total tackles and fourth in interceptions.
In his fourth season in Clinton, Englehart led Presbyterian to a 10-2 record, including a 6-2 PFL mark that placed his squad second in the regular-season race. The Blue Hose stormed to national attention on the season’s opening weekend by knocking off nationally-ranked Marist on the road. Presbyterian backed up that win with another stunning road win against Furman. The Blue Hose would go on to win their first seven games of the season and broke into the FCS Top 25 rankings for the first time in program history, reaching No. 16 in the American Football Coaches Association poll and No. 19 in the Stats Perform poll – both the highest rankings achieved by a PFL team. Presbyterian would remain ranked in both polls for a PFL record six consecutive weeks.
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.