The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to male and female high-school student-athletes in the United States.^[1][2] They are given for boys' baseball, boys' football, girls' softball, girls' volleyball, boys' basketball, girls' basketball, boys' cross country, girls' cross country, boys' soccer, girls' soccer, boys' track & field, and girls' track & field.^[1]

A "State Player of the Year" award is given to the best student-athlete in each of the twelve sports in the District of Columbia and each of the fifty states, where each sport is recognized as an interscholastic sport.^[3] Selection is based on three criteria: athletic achievement, academic excellence, and exemplary character (including sportsmanship, and participation in community and other activities).^[3] Twelve "National Player of the Year" awards are then given, to the best student-athlete in each of the twelve sports, chosen from the state winners in the respective sport.^[3]

Finally, one male Athlete of the Year and one female Athlete of the Year are selected from the twelve National Player of the Year recipients.^[3] The two winners are voted on by a national panel that includes approximately 400 sports journalists, coaches, and others.^[3] The two athletes of the year receive their awards at a special ceremony prior to The ESPY Awards, in Los Angeles, California.^[3]

The Gatorade Company established these awards in 1985.^[1] The selection process is administered by ESPN RISE, which is ESPN's division for high-school sports.^[1]

Past national winners include Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith for football, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant for basketball, Allyson Felix for track and field, and Kerri Walsh for volleyball.

Athletes of the Year[link]

For biographical sketches of the current winners, see footnote^[4]

See also: Sporting News High School Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Year

National Sports Winners[link]

Baseball (boys only)[link]

See footnote^[5]

Basketball[link]

Cross Country[link]

Football (boys only)[link]

Year	Winner	Hometown	College
1986	Jeff George	Indianapolis, IN	Purdue / Illinois
1987	Emmitt Smith	Pensacola, FL	Florida
1988	Curtis Bray	Monroeville, PA	Pittsburgh
1989	Terry Kirby	Tabb, VA	Virginia
1990	Robert Smith	Euclid, OH	Ohio State
1991	Marquette Smith	Winter Park, FL	Florida State / Central Florida
1992	Chris Walsh[disambiguation needed ]	St. Paul, MN	Miami (FL) / Minnesota
1993	Ron Powlus	Berwick, PA	Notre Dame
1994	Peyton Manning	New Orleans, LA	Tennessee
1995	Brock Huard	Puyallup, WA	Washington
1996	Tim Couch	Hyden, KY	Kentucky
1997	Travis Minor	Baton Rouge, LA	Florida State
1998	Ronald Curry	Hampton, VA	North Carolina (football and basketball)
1999	Chris Lewis	Long Beach, CA	Stanford
2000	Brock Berlin	Shreveport, LA	Florida / Miami (FL)
2001	Joe Mauer	St. Paul, MN	Entered MLB draft; signed by Minnesota Twins
2002	Lorenzo Booker	Oxnard, CA	Florida State
2003	Kyle Wright	Danville, CA	Miami (FL)
2004	Jeff Byers	Fort Collins, CO	USC
2005	Greg Paulus	Syracuse, NY	Duke (basketball) Syracuse (football)[1]
2006	Mitch Mustain	Springdale, AR	Arkansas / USC
2007	John Brantley	Ocala, FL	Florida
2008	Matt Barkley	Santa Ana, CA	USC
2009	Garrett Gilbert	Austin, TX	Texas / SMU
2010	Malcolm Jones	Westlake Village, CA	UCLA
2011	Justin Worley	Rock Hill, SC	Tennessee
2012	Johnathan Gray	Aledo, TX	Texas

Soccer[link]

Softball (girls only)[link]

Track & Field[link]

Volleyball (girls only)[link]

See also[link]

• Wendy's High School Heisman (student-athletes in various sports)
• National High School Hall of Fame

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

• Home page. Gatorade Player of the Year official website
• Gatorade Football Players of the Year: Where Are They Now? (February 2010). Lost Lettermen (college sports) website

Russell Wilson

With the Badgers against Oregon State in 2011
No. 3     Seattle Seahawks
Quarterback
Personal information
Date of birth: (1988-11-29) November 29, 1988 (age 23)
Place of birth: Richmond, Virginia, US
Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Weight: 204 lb (93 kg)
Career information
College: Wisconsin
NFL Draft: 2012 / Round: 3 / Pick: 75
No regular season or postseason appearances
Career history
Seattle Seahawks (2012–present)
Roster status: Signed draft pick

Russell Wilson (born November 29, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League. Wilson played for the University of Wisconsin, where he led the Wisconsin Badgers to the 2012 Rose Bowl and a Big Ten Title. Prior to his time at Wisconsin, Wilson played for the North Carolina State Wolfpack football and baseball teams. In 2008, Wilson was named the ACC Rookie of the Year in football and became the first ever freshman quarterback named First-team All-ACC. The Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball selected Wilson in the 2010 draft with the 140th pick. He played second base for the Asheville Tourists, the Rockies' Class A affiliate of the South Atlantic League in the summer of 2011. On April 27, 2012 he was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with the 75th pick of the 2012 NFL Draft.^[1]

Early years[link]

Wilson attended the Collegiate School, a preparatory school in Richmond, Virginia, US. As a junior there in 2005, he threw for 3,287 yards and 40 touchdowns. He also rushed for 634 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was named an all-district, all-region, and all-state player. Wilson was twice named the Richmond Times-Dispatch Player of the Year.^[2]

As a senior in 2006, he threw for 3,009 yards, 34 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. Wilson also rushed for 1,132 yards and 18 touchdowns. That year, he was named the conference player of the year, and also named an all-conference and all-state player. He was featured in Sports Illustrated magazine for his performance in the state championship game win.^[2]

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	40‡	Commit date
Russell Wilson QB	Richmond, Virginia	Collegiate School	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	4.53	Jul 23, 2006
	Scout:   Rivals:
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 67 (QB)   Rivals: NR (QB), NR (Virginia)
‡ Refers to 40 yard dash Note: In many cases, Scout and Rivals may conflict in their listings of height, weight and 40 time. In these cases, an average of the two was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2007 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. http://www.rivals.com/TeamRank.asp?type=0&sort=0&year=2007. Retrieved 2011-10-07.

Wilson committed to North Carolina State University on July 23, 2006.^[3] Wilson also had a football scholarship offer from Duke University.^[4]

College career[link]

2007[link]

Wilson redshirted his first season (2007) at NC State.

2008[link]

In 2008, Wilson initially split time at quarterback with senior Daniel Evans and junior Harrison Beck. However, Evans and Beck saw no regular season action after Week 2 and Week 5, respectively. Thereafter, Wilson led the team to a 4–3 record in the regular season which NC State finished out on a four-game winning streak. During a win over East Carolina, Wilson threw for 201 yards and three touchdowns. He threw for two touchdowns in each of the last six season games.^[5]

In the 2008 PapaJohns.com Bowl against Rutgers, Wilson threw for 186 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 46 yards before halftime. Late in the first half, he scrambled to the Rutgers' four-yard line, where he was tackled and suffered a knee sprain. With Wilson sitting out the remainder of the game, his replacements threw a combined total of three interceptions with NC State eventually losing, 23–29.^[6]

Over the course of the season, he completed 150 of 275 attempts for 1,955 yards and 17 touchdowns with just one interception. He also recorded 116 carries for 394 yards and four touchdowns.^[5] The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) named him the first-team All-ACC quarterback. It was the first time in the conference's history that a freshman quarterback was named to the first team.^[7]

2009[link]

On July 12, 2009, Wilson was named as the quarterback on the pre-season all-ACC football team.

On September 19, 2009, Wilson broke Andre Woodson's all-time NCAA record of 325 consecutive pass attempts without an interception against Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs. The 389-pass streak ended in a game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

In a home victory over Pittsburgh, Wilson had over 400 yards total offense and 4 touchdowns.

2010[link]

Wilson led the 2010 NC State Wolfpack football team to a 9 win season (9–4), including a win over the West Virginia Mountaineers in the 2010 Champs Sports Bowl. Wilson passed for 275 yards and 2 touchdowns as the Wolfpack defeated the Mountaineers 23–7.

Wilson led the Atlantic Coast Conference with 274.1 passing yards per game. Wilson also led the league in total offense with 307.5 yards per game.

2011[link]

Wilson was released from his athletic scholarship by NC State on April 29, 2011 with one year of eligibility remaining. On June 27, Wilson decided to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and to play football in the fall for the Badgers. In his first game, against UNLV, he passed for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also rushed for 62 yards, including a 46 yard touchdown run. The Badgers won 51–17. At the end of the regular season, Wilson was named first team All-Big Ten by both the coaches and media. Wilson also won the Griese-Brees Big Ten Quarterback of the Year award which was renamed in 2011 after Purdue's Bob Griese and Drew Brees.^[8] On December 3, 2011, Wilson led the Wisconsin Badgers to victory in the inaugural Big 10 championship game and was named the game's Grange-Griffin MVP. Wilson threw for three touchdowns in the game which runs his season total up to 31. Wilson became just the fourth quarterback in Big Ten history to throw at least 30 touchdown passes in a season (Purdue's Drew Brees, 1998 – 39, Purdue's Kyle Orton, 2004 – 31 and Ohio State's Troy Smith, 2006 – 30). At the end of the season, Wilson's 33 TD passes is second-most in Big Ten history trailing only Drew Brees.

On December 8, 2011, Wilson was named Third Team All-American by Yahoo Sports. Wilson's teammate Chris Borland joined him on the Third Team while Montee Ball was named to the First Team and offensive linemen Peter Konz and Kevin Zeitler were named to the Second Team.^[9]

On December 10, 2011, Wilson finished ninth in the Heisman Trophy voting. He finished with 52 points. Wilson was joined by teammate Montee Ball who finished fourth in the voting with 348 points. Baylor's Robert Griffin III won the award.^[10]

On January 28, 2012, Wilson completed his college career by playing in the 2012 Senior Bowl.

Statistics[link]

Year	School	Passing							Rushing
		Comp	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Pct	Eff	Att	Yds	Avg	TD
2008	NC State	150	275	1,955	17	1	54.5	133.9	116	394	3.4	4
2009	NC State	224	378	3,027	31	11	59.3	147.8	103	260	2.5	4
2010	NC State	308	527	3,563	28	14	58.4	127.5	143	435	3.0	9
2011	Wisconsin	225	309	3,175	33	4	72.8	191.8	79	338	4.3	6
College totals		907	1,489	11,720	109	30	60.9	147.2	441	1,427	3.2	23

Professional career[link]

Pre-draft[link]

Wilson took part in the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Seattle Seahawks[link]

Wilson was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round (75th pick overall) in the 2012 NFL Draft.

See also[link]

• List of Division I FBS passing yardage leaders
• List of Division I FBS passing touchdown leaders

References[link]

External links[link]

• Wisconsin profile
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Minors)