Player of the Year Release | All-America Release

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. – Saint John's University senior quarterback Aaron Syverson (Minnetonka, Minn.) was named the first recipient of the Walter Camp Division III Player of the Year award, presented by Crabtree Lexus of New Haven, Conn.

The announcement was made on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

He was joined on the inaugural Walter Camp Division III All-America team by junior wide receiver Dylan Wheeler (St. Paul, Minn./Mounds View).

Walter Camp, "The Father of American football," first selected an All-America team in 1889. A former Yale student-athlete and football coach, Camp is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to 11 players per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.

Syverson (AFCA Second Team, AP Second Team, D3football.com Second Team) and Wheeler (AFCA Second Team, AP Second Team, D3football.com Third Team) received All-America honors from three other organizations this offseason. 

Senior defensive lineman Zach Frank (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial), junior tight end Joey Gendreau (Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) and senior guard Nick McKenzie (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer) were named to the D3football.com All-America fourth team last week (Jan. 2).

SJU has had 118 football student-athletes earn All-America honors a total of 154 times in the program's 113-season history.

Syverson
Syverson was named a Gagliardi Trophy finalist and the D3football.com Region 6 Offensive Player of the Year last month. He ended the 2024 season as the Division III leader in completion percentage (.763), passing touchdowns (51), passing yards (4,382) and passing yards per game (365.2); second in completions per game (27.58), points responsible per game (26.0) and total offense per game (361.2); third in points responsible for (312); fourth in passing efficiency (198.0); and sixth in yards per pass attempt (10.10).

He finished 331 of 434 passing (.763) for 4,382 yards and 51 touchdowns (to four interceptions) in 12 games this season. Syverson passed for over 300 yards in 10 of the Johnnies' 12 games this fall, including four over 400, and for five or more touchdowns six times with eight games of four or more.

Syverson completed 77.1 percent (158-for-205) of his passes for 1,928 yards and 19 touchdowns (to two interceptions) in five games against nationally ranked teams (then-No. 4/now No. 12 Wartburg; then-No. 24/now No. 8 Bethel, twice; then-No. 18/now No. 21 UW-La Crosse; and then-No. 6/now No. 4 Susquehanna).

He owns the program and MIAC records for pass attempts (1,418); pass completions (983), passing yards (12,888) and touchdown passes (147), as well as the SJU marks for completion percentage (.693), passing yards per game (314.3), total offense (12,961 yards) and 300-yard passing games (20). Syverson is third in SJU history in both passing efficiency (175.8) and quarterback wins as a starter (36-5 record)

Syverson was named the 2024 MIAC Offensive Player of the Year and collected his third All-MIAC honor after he played all eight conference games and led the MIAC in every passing statistic for the second-consecutive season: completions (213), attempts (286), completion percentage (.745), passing yards (2,953/369.1 ypg.), passing touchdowns (36) and pass-efficiency rating (199.95). He set MIAC records (conference games only) for passing yards per game (369.1), 300-yard passing games (7), consecutive 300-yard passing games (6) and 400-yard passing games (3).

Wheeler
Wheeler ended the 2024 season second in Division III in receiving touchdowns (21); eighth in total points scored (126) and total touchdowns (21); 14th in receptions per game (7.3); and 15th in scoring (10.5 ppg.). He recorded over 100 receiving yards in seven of his team's 12 games and led SJU in receptions (88) and receiving touchdowns (21). Wheeler finished second on the team to senior wide receiver Marselio Mendez (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) with 1,164 receiving yards.

The 21 receiving touchdowns were second-most in program history, one behind the record of 22 set by Blake Elliott '03 in 2002, while the catches rank third and the yards rank 10th. Wheeler enters his senior season next fall fourth in program history in 100-yard receiving games (10), sixth in receiving touchdowns (31), eighth in receptions (149) and 12th in receiving yards (2,007).

He was a two-time MIAC Offensive Player of the Week and led the MIAC in scoring, both in touchdowns (16) and total points (96), while finishing fifth in receptions (54) and sixth in receiving yards (821) in eight conference games.

SJU (11-1, 8-0 MIAC) won its MIAC-record 37th conference championship and made its 33rd postseason appearance (29th in Division III) this fall. The 10-win season was the program's 26th.