The High School Football Rudy Awards 12 finalists announced

Tyler Dutruch
5-10 230 SR
Pope John Paul II (Slidell, La.) Jaguars
Vote for Tyler

Louisiana is the home to Calob Leindecker, inaugural recipient of the High School Football Rudy Award. Dutruch was nominated by his coach Mark Jeanmard. "Tyler suffers from severe diabetes. He often takes medication and other aids associated with diabetes for his blood levels during practices and games but never lets up his intensity," Jeanmard said. "Rudy was challenged by his size and he never let it be a crutch. Tyler's challenge is his medical condition and he follows the same mentality. It is not a crutch, it is something that is a challenge and something that he lives with, but he will never let it get in his way or be an excuse." Dutruch has Type 1 Diabetes and relies on constant injections of insulin to stay alive. Without insulin, the blood glucose level would rise to a point that vital organs would shut down leading to coma and eventually death.