DEARBORN, Mich. - Tim Hiller was awarded the John S. Pingel Award by the Michigan Chapter of the National Football Foundation as the Division I College Scholar-Athlete of the Year on Wednesday night at the annual Detroit Free Press Football Awards Banquet at the Dearborn Inn in Dearborn, Mich.

For the second time in three years Western Michigan boasts the Division I College Scholar-Athlete of the Year after Anthony Gebhart earned the honor following the 2007 season.  Hiller was presented the award by former University of Michigan player John Ghindia near the end of evening.

The banquet was emceed by Frank Beckmann of WJR-760 AM Radio and awards were bestowed for High School Coach of the Year, the top five high school scholar-atletes and the very inspirational Pete Schmidt Award to Marcel Green of Detroit Crockett High School.

The Detroit Free Press honored 23 high school student-athletes from across the state of Michigan for their excellence on and off the field as members of the Detroit Free Press All-State Dream Team.  Two years ago a pair of current Broncos, Mitch Zajac and John Potter, were members of that prestigious team.

Hiller was recently named Second Team All-MAC Offense, Second Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America, a member of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Team and the 2009 Danny Wuerffel Trophy winner.  In all, Hiller has earned $19,000 in post-graduate scholarships.

In attendance to support Tim on Wednesday night were his parents (Tom and Amy), his paternal grandparents, his high school football coach and elementary school principal, his fiancee' Michelle DeNooyer, Tim Knox (director of football operations) and Mat Kanan (director of media relations).