UW-Whitewater placekicker Jeff Schebler has been nominated among the
Fred Mitchell Award finalist for the month of October. The award is new this year and goes to the top placekicker among all National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II and Division III teams. Schebler was also nominated back in September.
Jeff Schebler is among 12 placekickers nominated for the award in October.
The award is named for Fred Mitchell, who was the record-setting, Athletic Hall of Famer placekicker for Wittenberg University (OH) . Mitchell was an author, Chicago Tribune sports columnist and philanthropist. The award winner will be chosen based on excellence on the field and in the community. The school of the award winner will receive scholarship funds.
The Selection Committee has recognized players in September and again in October before nominating once more in November. The national award winner will be announced in mid-December.
There are nine members of the Pro and/or College Football Hall of Fame on the committee including Tom Beck, George Blanda, Kevin Butler, Lou Holtz, Paul Hornung, Marv Levy, Steve McMichael, Don Pierson and Gale Sayers. Several former football players that are active in their communities are also on the committee including Carl Allegretti, Sean Gothier, Dan Jiggetts, Jeff Michalczyk, Mark Murphy, Rob Perry, Bob Thomas, Todd Wilkins, Gary Zauner and Rob Zvonar. There are eight former college or NFL place-kickers on the committee.
Schebler's accomplishments include being first in the WIAC this year in kick scoring with 64 points. His stats include 43-44 PAT's and 7-8 on FG's. Schebler recently broke the Division III kick scoring record with 384 points on October 17 against UW-Stout and he has passed the NCAA Football Championship Series record with 409 points, breaking the old mark of 407. He also holds UW-W school records for PAT's made (205), PAT's attempted (215), FG's made (68) and FG's attempted (85).
Schebler has helped UW-Whitewater win WIAC titles each of his first three years. He also helped win the Division III National Champion for UW-W in 2007. Schebler has been an All-American all three years as well as first team All-WIAC.