Fort Hays State senior linebacker continues to pile up the postseason honors following his record-setting year in 2011, but this time it's for his work in the classroom. Whitehill was named to the CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-America First Team at linebacker. He was one of six linebackers in NCAA Division II to earn Academic All-American honors this year.

After Whitehill earned First Team All-District honors, he was placed on the All-American ballot, voted on by a national panel of sports information directors. He is the 11th Academic All-American selection for Fort Hays State football, the first since Casey Seyfert earned the honor in 2001. This is the 35th CoSIDA Academic All-American selection in Fort Hays State's history, the first selection dating back to 1975. Whitehill is a Nursing major with a cumulative GPA of 3.56.

The McPherson, Kan., native was an All-MIAA and Daktronics All-Super Region 4 First-Team selection at linebacker this year. Whitehill finished the season leading NCAA Division II in tackles with 164, just five short of the Division II single-season record. However, he did set a new school record for tackles in a season, breaking the old mark of 150 set by Junior Hartig in 1979. He also set a new NCAA Division II record for assisted tackles in a season with 106, breaking the old mark of 105 set by Brian Holliday of Fayetteville State in 2002. Whitehill recorded at least 10 tackles in nine of 11 games this year and never had less than seven in a game. He had at least 20 tackles in a game three times this year. Whitehill was a Preseason All-American selection by Consensus Draft Services. He earned All-MIAA honors and CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-District honors for the second year in a row.