LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Colorado School of Mines wide receiver Flynn Schiele is one of 43 players nominated for the 2024 Harlon Hill Trophy, given to the best player in NCAA Division II football.

The nomination comes following a superlative season for Schiele, who last week was named First-Team All-RMAC after ending leading Super Region IV in receiving yards and touchdowns.

Schiele ranks in the national top-10 in both receiving yards (3rd, 1,195) and receiving touchdowns (8th, 12) and is 17th in receptions per game (6.0) as he averaged better than 18 yards per catch and 108 yards per game in 2024. He recorded a second straight 1,000-yard season, helping make Mines the only program in D-II history to have two 1,000-yard receivers in three consecutive seasons along with teammate Max McLeod. 

The RMAC and NFFCC Colorado Player of the Week in Week 4, Schiele owns D-II's biggest receiving game of the season with 297 yards against Black Hills State, the most by an Oredigger since 1970. He caught multiple touchdowns in five games including three vs. BHSU and two each vs. South Dakota Mines, Adams State, #8 Western Colorado, and Fort Lewis, and had 100+ yards and 2+ touchdowns in four games.

The 43 nominees will be pared down to eight national finalists - two from each NCAA super region - before the winner is announced on Dec. 20. The trophy is named for the late Harlon Hill, a University of North Alabama star who went on to fame in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. It is sponsored and presented by the Little Rock Touchdown Club and Great American Conference. Super Region 4 has 11 nominees including defensive end Ricky Freymond (Western Colorado) and receiver Reggie Retzlaff (CSU Pueblo) from the RMAC.

Mines has a long history with the Harlon Hill Trophy as the only program to have three different winners - Chad Friehauf (2004), Justin Dvorak (2016), and John Matocha (2022) - and the Orediggers have had a national finalist in each of the past three seasons in Michael Zeman (2021) and Matocha (2022 and 2023).