High school football: Corner Canyon's Jaxson Dart named Gatorade National Football Player of the Year

By Zack Poff May 26, 2021, 12:45pm

MaxPreps All-American, USC quarterback is first winner from Utah.

Jeff George, Emmitt Smith, Peyton Manning, Ronald Curry, Kyler Murray, JT Daniels and Arik Gilbert all have been named the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year. Add Jaxson Dart to that list.

The former Corner Canyon (Draper, Utah) standout quarterback edged Malachi Nelson of Los Alamitos (Calif.) and former Prince Avenue Christian (Athens, Ga.) five-star Brock Vandagriff, now enrolled at Georgia, for the high school football honor.

Dart led our All-America team as the MaxPreps National Football Player of the Year. In his lone season at Corner Canyon, he broke the Utah state record throwing for 67 touchdown passes while his 4,691 yards through the air is second all-time in a single season. He added 1,195 yards and 12 scores on the ground and finished as the nation's leader in passing yards, passing touchdowns, total offense and total touchdowns.

Dart led the Chargers to a 14-0 record, 6A state title and the No. 9 spot in the final MaxPreps Top 25 rankings.

In three years at Roy High School and his final season at Corner Canyon, Dart lands fifth in Utah history with 10,691 career passing yards while his 116 touchdown passes are third-best.



Dart is the first played selected from Utah.

He entered his senior year with no Power 5 offers but quickly generated an early-season buzz that saw notable programs like Arizona State, Iowa State, TCU, UCLA, USC and Washington State take notice.

Dart signed with USC during the early national signing day period and is currently battling with Miller Moss for the No. 2 spot at quarterback behind Kedon Slovis.
Jaxson Dart, Corner Canyon
Jaxson Dart, Corner Canyon
Photo by Dave Argyle