CHADRON, Neb. – Senior placekicker
Wilson Yee has been named one of 41 semifinalists for the Fred Mitchell Award, a prestigious non-FBS national kicking honor awarded for on-field performance and community service.
Yee is one of only eight Division II semifinalists for the award, which has nominees from Division I FCS, Division II, Division III, NAIA and junior college. Among the 41 semifinalists, 10 finalists will be selected in early December before a winner is named.
Yee, who hails from Littleton, Colorado, concluded a three-year career kicking for Chadron State after transferring from Independence CC. In the 2025 regular season, Yee made 15 of 22 field goal kicks (68 percent), hit 43 touchbacks on 69 booming kickoff attempts and was nearly flawless on extra points, making 36 of 37 with the lone miss being blocked.
Most notably, Yee drilled a walk-off 47-yard field goal in overtime for CSC to defeat then-No. 11/9 ranked Western Colorado. The following week, Yee drilled a season-long 57-yarder against top five opponent CSU Pueblo.
For the first time in his career, Yee was voted as the RMAC's First Team All-Conference selection at kicker by the league's head coaches in 2025. Yee also holds the CSC all-time record for longest field goal, a 61-yarder he hit in 2023.
The Fred Mitchell Award recognizes kickers that were nominated for their terrific performances through the end of the regular season. The recipient of the Fred Mitchell Award will be announced in December based on performance on the football field and in the community.
The namesake for the award, Fred Mitchell, was a longtime (1974-2015) award-winning sports columnist for the Chicago Tribune and the author of 12 sports books. Mitchell set the NCAA record for career kick-scoring at Wittenberg University in 1968 among "College Division" schools that are now classified as FCS, Division II and Division III.
"The volume of high-quality non-FBS place-kickers has reached a new level in 2025 when it comes to field goal distances and accuracy," said Fred Mitchell. "Our FMA Selection Committee will be narrowing down this national semi-final list of 40 premium kickers to a Top 10 in the coming days. Factoring in the important criteria of community service, we hope to come up with the very best of the best."
The seven other Division II kickers on the list alongside Yee include a pair of RMAC kickers in CSU Pueblo's Jackson Smith and Colorado School of Mines's Preston Kyle, plus Austin Schmitt of Pittsburg State, last week's NCAA tournament opponent for CSC.
