cContact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

2024 Associated Press NCAA Division III All-America Team

Dec. 19, 2024 - The North Central College football team has received three selections to the 2024 Associated Press NCAA Division III All-America Teams, including the AP's inaugural Offensive Player of the Year Award.

The Associated Press All-America Teams are nominated and voted upon by sports information personnel representing each Division III conference. North Central is represented on the First Team by quarterback Luke Lehnen and offensive lineman Sam Pryor, while offensive lineman Jeske Maples is on the Second Team. Lehnen was a Second Team All-America by the AP in 2023, while Maples was a First Team honoree in 2022 and 2023.

Beginning in 2024, the All-America Teams feature National Player of the Year awards for offense, defense and special teams, as well as a Coach of the Year Award. Lehnen received the bulk of the votes for National Offensive Player of the Year, adding to a postseason awards haul which already includes the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Offensive Student-Athlete of the Year and D3football.com Region 5 Offensive Player of the Year accolades. The graduate student in sports leadership has completed 164 of 240 passes (67.5 percent) for 2,685 yards and 35 touchdowns while also rushing for 894 yards and 13 scores this season as the Cardinals (13-0) are set to host a national semifinal Saturday for the second time in three seasons. 

Also a finalist for the Campbell Trophy, which recognizes the nation's top scholar-athlete in the sport among all divisions, and the 2023 recipient of the Gagliardi Trophy as Division III's most outstanding player, Lehnen is the all-division collegiate leader in career touchdowns responsible for (203) and consecutive games with a touchdown pass (57), and is poised to establish a new collegiate record for career passing efficiency. Lehnen has established a new Division III career record for total offensive yards (15,327) and, with a North Central-record 154 touchdown passes, just four TDs away from matching the Division III career record of 158.

Pryor, a First Team honoree on this season's American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coaches' All-America Teams, was named the CCIW Offensive Line Student-Athlete of the Year this season after earning First Team All-CCIW honors for the third time. Pryor has started all 13 games at right guard this season and 53 games over the last four years. Maples, North Central's left tackle for 57 straight games, is an All-American for the seventh time and the third player in the Cardinals' history to earn First Team All-CCIW honors four times.

A total of 124 All-America awards have been presented to 49 North Central football student-athletes. The Cardinals host Susquehanna University (12-1) in Saturday's national semifinal at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. Click HERE for a full game preview and links to live coverage. 

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