Aidan Ellison almost had given up hope of kicking full-time in college after his unfulfilling experience at Arkansas State.
The 2025 Fred Mitchell Award winner had starred at Naperville Central High School in suburban Chicago.
“Coming out of high school, I was looking at some larger Power 5 schools,” Ellison recalled.
“Then COVID hit (in 2020), and it caused everyone else that was already playing college football to get an extra year. And that made them keep all the kickers that they already had.
“That led me to the opportunity to play at Arkansas State and I decided to go play there. Things didn’t go exactly how I wanted them to, but I still got my degree. At the end of the day, I graduated a semester early and decided to come to my hometown school where both my parents grew up.”
Ellison enrolled at North Central College to begin working on an MBA and continue his pursuit of a kicking opportunity.
“I’ve grown up a North Central fan since I’ve been born. It’s kind of a full circle moment because as a child, I would go to the North Central games. I’d wear North Central gear. And it kind of felt like a dream when I first said I was going to play here and get my master’s from here,” he said.
A perennial Division III football powerhouse, North Central advanced to the national championship game where it was upset by Wisconsin-River Falls in the Jan. 4 Stagg Bowl. But Ellison turned in an incredible season for the 14-1 Cardinals of head coach Brad Spencer, converting 15 of 17 field goal attempts, including a school-record 57-yarder. Ellison also converted 74 PATs for a total of 119 points.
“And now dreams have become a reality,” he said. “I’m able to play and still play at a high level, helping my team as much as I can to win games and do every part, be the puzzle piece of the program and help in any way that I can.”
The Fred Mitchell Award goes to the best kicker among more than 750 non-FBS colleges in America. Ellison is just the second Division III kicker to win the Fred Mitchell Award, joining 2009 winner Jeff Schebler of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Schebler’s name is on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot as one of the highest career scoring kickers of all time.
In addition to kicking performance, community service is an important criteria when the 37-man Selection Committee, headed by co-chairmen Matt Cotiguala and Rob Perry, picks a winner.
“In high school, I was part of an organization called Youth Men’s Service League,” said Ellison. “It’s a mother-son organization group where we go around all over Naperville and volunteer at various organizations. And recently it’s been ‘Feed My Starving Children.'”
Ellison also has volunteered at a number of homeless shelters and military assistance programs.
“There’s a lot of other organizations that require support, and I want to help in any way that I can,” he said.
Ellison will receive the Fred Mitchell Award trophy on Feb. 16 during the annual Chicago chapter National Football Foundation ceremony at Halas Hall, where the Chicago Bears train.