Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference

2023 RMAC Football All-Academic Release

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Colorado School of Mines’ John Matocha and Nolan Reeve headline the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Football All-Academic rosters as the Offensive and Defensive Academic Players of the Year, respectively, the league announced Wednesday. Matocha and Reeve’s honors were announced alongside the league’s All-Academic first team and honor roll lists. The RMAC All-Academic First Teams and honor roll rosters are nominated and voted on by the league’s sports information directors. Sports information directors are not allowed to vote for their own student-athletes.
 
Matocha is the RMAC Offensive Academic Player of the Year for the second consecutive season after leading the No. 1 Orediggers to yet another RMAC title and the NCAA Division II postseason. The redshirt senior has his team rolling with a perfect 13-0 overall record ahead of the NCAA DII Semifinals, marking the team’s third such appearance. Throughout the 2023 campaign, he has shattered RMAC and NCAA records alike and became the NCAA record holder for total touchdowns in the final regular-season game of the year at 181. Since then, he has tacked on five more touchdowns over two postseason contests, three through the air and two on the ground. Matocha, the reigning Harlon Hill winner, has proven himself as a worthy candidate to repeat for the 2023 award and has coupled his athletic feats while holding a 3.65 grade-point average as a computer science major.
 
Reeve is the RMAC Defensive Academic Player of the Year after leading a stout Mines defense that ranks third nationally for scoring defense while limiting opponents to 11.5 points per game. The redshirt senior has nine sacks on the year and 12.5 tackles for loss for 96 total yards. At the linebacker position, Reeve has 52 tackles on the season, second-most on the Mines defense, with 34 assisted tackles and 18 solo tackles. He has four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and one pass breakup, which lead a defensive unit that ranks seventh nationally for total defense, allowing just 247.5 yards per game over 13 contests. Reeve’s leadership was crucial for Mines’ defensive squad in their 9-0 run through conference play and continues into the postseason as the top-ranked Orediggers make their third consecutive appearance in the NCAA DII Semifinals. He has accomplished all of this while holding a 3.76 GPA as a mechanical engineering and additive manufacturing major.
 
Of the 24 student-athletes on the RMAC Football All-Academic First Team rosters, Colorado School of Mines leads the way with eight honorees: three offensive, four defensive and one on special teams. Colorado State University Pueblo checks in next with five selections: three defensive and a pair on the offensive unit. Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines each accounted for four roster spots, while Chadron State, Colorado Mesa and Western Colorado rounded out the first teams with one honoree apiece.
 

Offensive Academic Player of the Year: John Matocha, Colorado School of Mines
Defensive Academic Player of the Year: Nolan Reeve, Colorado School of Mines