National Player of the Year Watch List

A pair of new names played their way into our weekly look at the nation’s top high school football performers this fall.

In Louisiana, Lutcher quarterback Gavin Webster has been overlooked for the most part as a college football prospect due to his height (5-foot-10), but his exploits on the gridiron this season might be changing that. The Tiger offense has been virtually unstoppable with Webster at the controls, averaging 54 points per game in four contests since Sept. 18.

In San Diego, Calif., USC verbal commitment Dillon Baxter turned in one of the season’s most impressive performances Friday night with 550 total offensive yards and six touchdowns in a 41-34 win over Lincoln.

Read on to find out how the National Player of the Year candidates fared over the weekend.

Leaders

Marcus Coker, Sr., RB, DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.)
Update: Coker has been racking up numbers in blowout wins for DeMatha, but now the 6-1, 230-pound Iowa verbal has a signature performance to go along with his gaudy statistics. The Stags trailed 21-3 entering the fourth quarter against rival Good Counsel, but Coker found the end zone three times in the final stanza – including a 64-yard touchdown run with 1:07 remaining to give DeMatha the win. He finished with 213 yards on 25 carries, bringing his season totals to 1,243 yards and 17 touchdowns. If this were the Heisman, Coker would have just punched his ticket to New York City.

Chas Dodd, Sr., QB, Byrnes (Duncan, S.C.)
Update: Dodd continued his big senior season with 260 yards and five touchdowns through the air on 13 of 19 passing in a lopsided win over Spartanburg. The Rutgers verbal also ran for a score. Dodd has thrown for 1,997 yards and 26 touchdowns for the 7-1 Rebels, back to No. 2 nationally in this week’s Xcellent 25.

Malcolm Jones, Sr., RB, Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.)
Update: In just over two quarters of work in a 42-7 win over Long Beach Jordan, Jones ran for two touchdowns and polished his defensive resume with a 70-yard interception return for another score. He also committed to UCLA on Thursday, so not a bad week for the Oaks Christian two-way star.

Gavin Webster, Sr., QB, Lutcher (La.)
Update: A MaxPreps reader called us out for not including Webster last week, and rightfully so. We were sleeping on this kid big time. The Tigers are averaging 46 points per game and looking like the best team in Louisiana. Thursday night against Helen Cox, Webster threw for 368 yards and four touchdowns in a 57-12 blowout. Two weeks ago against back-to-back defending 5A state champion Destrehan, Webster – more baseball recruit than football recruit at this point – tossed five touchdown passes and piled up 350 yards through the air in a 48-10 thrashing. Did we mention he also has a 300-yard rushing game this season? Webster tallied 303 yards on the ground and five touchdowns in a 42-34 win over Hahnville Sept. 18. For the season, the 5-10 senior has thrown for 1,468 yards and 18 touchdowns and run for 504 more with nine touchdowns as Lutcher is out to a 6-0 start.

Contenders

Dillon Baxter, Sr., QB/RB, Mission Bay (San Diego, Calif.)
Update: Baxter played his way onto the list with one of the most impressive performances of the year Friday night in a 41-34 win over San Diego Lincoln. A USC verbal commitment, Baxter threw for 282 yards and four touchdowns (15 of 32 passing) and ran for 268 and two touchdowns on 23 carries. Mission Bay went 6-5-1 in 2008, but is 5-0 this fall thanks in part to Baxter’s 1,871 total offensive yards and 27 touchdowns.

Michael Brewer, Jr., QB, Lake Travis (Austin, Texas)
Update: After putting up 50 points or more in four-straight games, Lake Travis was held to just 38 in an easy win over Lampasas. Brewer connected on 22 of 33 passes for 346 yards and a touchdown. The junior signal caller’s season totals stand at 2,312 yards and 20 touchdowns (against just one interception) for the 7-0 Cavaliers.

Ka’Deem Carey, Jr., RB, Canyon del Oro (Tucson, Ariz.)
Update: Carey needed just 15 carries to tally 132 yards and a score in a 35-7 win over Tucson rival Catalina Foothills. Averaging over 12 yards per carry, the junior star has 1,416 yards and 17 touchdowns for the 7-0 Dorados. He also has 164 yards in the return game with another touchdown.

Anthony Carrothers, Sr., QB, Independence (Charlotte, N.C.)
Update: After sitting out with an injury last week, Carrothers returned to the Patriot lineup for a 31-27 comeback win over Providence. Independence, now 8-0, needed every bit of the 5-8 quarterback’s 269 yards through the air and 86 on the ground to overcome a 10-point fourth quarter deficit. Carrothers accounted for four touchdowns, including a 69-yard touchdown run that put the Charlotte juggernaut up for good with under four minutes remaining.

Josh Dorman, Sr., QB, Birdville (North Richland Hills, Texas)
Update: Nobody has been able to slow down Dorman and Birdville this fall. The 6-1 signal caller completed 28 of 40 passes for 417 yards and six touchdowns in a 52-14 win over Springtown on Friday. The 6-0 Hawks are averaging 51.6 points per game and Dorman has thrown for 2,413 yards and 34 touchdowns against just two interceptions. He is on pace for over 4,000 yards through the air in the regular season.

Lamarcus Joyner, Sr., St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Update: According to the Sun-Sentinel, Joyner suffered a dislocated finger in practice last week and did not play in St. Thomas Aquinas’ 56-0 win over Nova.

Marcus Lattimore, Sr., RB, Byrnes (Duncan, S.C.)
Update: Byrnes lightened the load for workhorse Lattimore in a 49-6 win over Spartanburg as he carried just 11 times for 109 yards. Lattimore has 859 yards on 113 carries (7.6 yards per carry) with 11 touchdowns this season, but continues to be slightly overshadowed by the Rebel passing game.

Christian LeMay, Jr., QB, Butler (Matthews, N.C.)
Update: LeMay carved up another defense in yet another blowout for Butler, this week a 52-13 thrashing of East Mecklenburg. The junior signal caller completed 12 of 15 attempts for 227 yards and three scores. Over the past two weeks, LeMay has completed 23 of 28 passes for 541 yards and eight touchdowns – no interceptions. He has thrown just one pick in 98 attempts this season.

Kevin Parks, Sr., RB, West Rowan (Mt. Ulla, N.C.)
Update: Parks is so good, it’s almost boring. Except it can’t be too boring to watch somebody rush for 356 yards in a game, and that’s exactly what the Virginia verbal commitment did this week in a 69-14 win over Carson. He needed just 24 carries to reach the number and now has 1,908 on the ground this season and 9,029 in his career.

Rushel Shell, So., RB, Hopewell (Aliquippa, Pa.)
Update: Shell cracked the 1,000-yard mark in a 49-7 win over Riverside. His season totals stand at 1,143 yards and 19 touchdowns for the 6-0 Vikings after picking up 259 yards and five touchdowns against Riverside – all in the first half.

Phillip Sims, Sr., QB, Oscar Smith (Chesapeake, Va.)
Update: Sims is now Virginia’s all-time leading passer in terms of career yardage with 9,179 following a 42-0 win over Deep Creek. In that contest, Sims connected on 10 of 14 pass attempts for 253 yards and four touchdowns. The 6-0 Tigers appear to be hitting their stride and don’t be surprised if Sims plays his way up a category in our weekly look at POY candidates.

Robert Woods, Sr., WR/DB, Serra (Gardena, Calif.)
Update: After a bit of a slow start offensively, Woods is building steam, catching seven passes for 119 yards and a touchdown in a big win Friday night for Serra over Woodland Hills Taft, 26-20. He also picked off two passes and made seven tackles as his Cavaliers improved to 5-0.

On the radar

Teddy Bridgewater, Jr., QB, Northwestern (Miami, Fla.)
Update: In a game that was supposed to showcase rival Central’s rise to prominence behind senior quarterback Jeff Godfrey, Bridgewater upstaged the Rocket signal caller by throwing for 166 yards and two touchdowns and leading a second-half comeback victory, 22-14.

Jeff Godfrey, Sr., QB, Central (Miami, Fla.)
Update: Godfrey’s POY chances took a big hit in the aforementioned loss to rival Northwestern, a game broadcast nationally by ESPN. Godfrey totaled nearly 200 yards of offense, but Central was done in by 25 penalties.

Jake Heaps, Sr., QB, Skyline (Sammamish, Wash.)
Update: Since losing to Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.) on Sept. 18, Skyline has been dominant. The Spartans have outscored their last three opponents 153-13 and Heaps has thrown for 737 yards and 11 touchdowns against just one interception in those contests.

Tony Jones, Sr., RB, Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)
Update: Jones scored on runs of 43 and 21 yards in the first quarter, then handed the baton to teammates in a 71-0 pasting of Clifton. The 5-8, 180-pound senior back has found the end zone 12 times in Don Bosco’s 4-0 start.

Nick Montana, Sr., QB, Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.)
Update: Montana had about as efficient of an outing as a quarterback could have in a 42-7 win over Long Beach Jordan Friday night, completing 5 of 6 passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns.

Matt Viles, Sr., QB, Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
Update: Viles and the nationally-ranked Chargers (No. 16) did not play. The senior quarterback has thrown for 1,321 yards and nine touchdowns during an impressive 5-0 start that includes wins over Servite and Mater Dei.

Scotty Young, Sr., QB, Ryan (Denton, Texas)
Update: Lake Dallas dealt Young and his Ryan teammates a blow Friday night as the Raiders suffered their first loss of the season, 35-31. Young completed 15 of 33 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown, but also threw three interceptions. His season totals 1,898 yards and 28 touchdowns (four interceptions) still put him among the nation’s leaders in both categories.