LITTLE ROCK, Ark. --- Western Colorado football's Will Lydle was announced as a Cliff Harris Award nominee on Friday according to the Little Rock Touchdown Club and Wright Lindsey Jennings release.

The award is presented to the nation's top small college defensive player representing more than 5,000 defensive players from nearly 500 NCAA Division II, Division III and NAIA colleges and universities.

Lydle was a force on the interior line for the Mountaineers this past season, finishing with 56 tackles (12 for a loss - first on the team and 10th in the RMAC) while leading the team and finishing the regular season seventh in the RMAC with 8.5 sacks. The defensive tackle had five or more tackles in seven of the Mountaineers' 11 games - including tackles for loss in nine of the games and a sack in seven contests. The junior's top performance came in a win over Black Hills State where he finished with 10 tackles (eight solo tackles), including three sacks that totaled 20 yards of loss for the Yellow Jackets. For his efforts in 2019, he was named First-Team All-RMAC, becoming the first Mountaineer to earn first-team honors (along with punter Garrett Boyd) since 2016.

A selection committee made up of former college and pro football greats will select the winner with finalists for the award being released next week. The winner will be announced Dec. 23 and honored at the Little Rock Touchdown Club's annual awards banquet on Jan. 9.

The award is named after Cliff Harris - an overlooked high school player who had one scholarship offer to then NAIA Ouachita Baptist University and turned that opportunity to an NFL career that featured five Super Bowls and six Pro Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys.