NFFCC Academic Teams

COLORADO SPRINGS - Colorado School of Mines linebacker Nolan Reeve is the National Football Foundation Colorado Chapter (NFFCC) Scholar-Athlete of the Year to lead the organization's academic awards for the 2023 season. 

In all, Mines had 32 student-athletes named to the NFFCC Academic All-Colorado First Team, and 11 more named Honorable Mention for their work in the classroom.

Reeve is the fourth Oredigger to win the state's highest academic honor since its establishment in 2014, joining Richie Rice (2015), Colin Peter (2017), and Geoff Keating (2019). He will be honored at the annual NFFCC banquet on April 22 along with Offensive Player of the Year John Matocha, Specialist of the Year Blake Doud, and Coach of the Year Pete Sterbick, whose accolades were announced back in December.

Reeve, who has Mines degrees in mechanical engineering (B.S.) and additive manufacturing (M.S.), was one of the nation's top defenders in 2023 as a finalist for the Cliff Harris Award. He was named the Academic All-American of the Year for Division II football as well as a First-Team Academic All-American. A consensus all-American including first-team nods from the AP, D2CCA, and D2football.com, Reeve was the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year and Academic Defensive Player of the Year compiling 64 tackles with a team-leading 13.5 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, and 10 hurries. He generated four forced fumbles and two recoveries, including one for a touchdown. Reeve finished his Mines career as one of the most productive defensive players in program history, ranking second all-time in sacks with 42.5 to go with 55.5 tackles for loss, 239 tackles, and 15 total turnovers generated in 57 career games; his sack total led all active players in college football at the end of the 2023 season. His 42.5 career sacks ranks fourth in state history.

To qualify for first-team status, a student-athlete had to maintain a 3.3 or higher GPA and be a regular performer on the field. Honorable mention status went to those student-athletes meeting the participation requirement with GPAs between 3.0 and 3.29.

In addition to Reeve, the Orediggers' first-team honorees were: Caden Best, Joel Diaz, Blake Doud, Will Drogosch, Max Fecci, Evan Foster, Caleb Frink, Ben Fuchs, Hayden Gregg, Zach Heckman, James Hess, Zach Hoffman, Cole Johnson, Levi Johnson, Josh Krause, John Matocha, Sean McNair, Konnor Mickelsen, Hunter Pearson, Jack Peterson, Josh Pollard, Will Ramsey, Sean Roberts, Collin Romero, Noah Roper, Blake Smotherman, Nick Stone, Steve Street, Kenny Wright, Chris Yoo, and Jackson Zimmermann. Honorable mention selections include Kyle Bahnsen, Jacob Click, Max McLeod, Adrian Moreno, Cade Myer, Christian Peluse, Billy Pospisil III, Peyton Rose, Flynn Schiele, Nate Sutter, and Jack Walters.