MaxPreps Weekly Honor Roll, presented by the United States Marine Corps: Brett Yackey, Greeley Central

Coach Gary Luster knew Brett Yackey was a resilient football player.

But when his star running back/linebacker suffered an AC joint sprain right before halftime of Greeley Central (Greeley, Colo.) fifth game this season against rival, Greeley West, Yackey exceeded Luster's expectation.

The senior captain came back out for the second half and fought through the pain, finishing with 13 carries for 140 yards and one touchdown.

"He's tougher than nails; tougher than nails," Luster said.

The injury didn't slow down Yackey all season. In fact, he didn't miss a game. Being able to push through the pain showed off the character and desire that made him one of the best high school football players in northern Colorado.

"Our trainer always wanted to take me out and let it heal," Yackey said. "But I would just tell her, ‘I don't want to come out. It's my last year, and I can't let the team down like that.' So, I always wanted to be out there."

Yackey rarely wasn't on the field this year. He was the team's starting halfback, amassing 1,287 yards on just 138 carries and eight touchdowns. He led all of Class 4A with 139 tackles (13.9 per game), which ranked him fourth in the state. He was also the team's kicker, converting on 23-for-25 extra points and nailing three field goals.

Yackey did it all.

"When you have a kid playing both ways you know one side of the ball is going to suffer," Luster said. "He had 139 tackles, and we don't do those stats we have a statistician who does them. He had nine tackles for loss.

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"He's just can incredible athlete. His motor is just super high-octane."

That motor was constantly going during the season. Yackey said he always gave his best effort on every single down.

"I've learned that effort is everything in life," Yackey said. "You've just got to make sure you put effort in, because you can't teach effort. You can learn skill, you can learn this, but if the effort's not there you're never going to be successful."

Luster has been coaching football for 30 years and calls Yackey one of the most special kids he's ever coached. That's high praise.

Yackey was a three-year starter on defense at Greeley Central and two-year starter at running back. This season marked the best year of his career. He was named to the All-State team on defense and won the North Conference Defensive Player of the Year award.

The 17-year-old is a hard-nosed player when he gets the football in his paws. That's pretty evident by his 9.3 yards per carry average this season. But he's also blessed with exceptional speed.

"I can be a bruiser at times, but a lot of the time for our team it was a matter of making people miss," Yackey said. "It was a lot of cutting, but my favorite move is the stiff arm."

Defensively, Yackey can fly all over the field as a hybrid strongside linebacker. Depending on the team and offense Greeley Central faced, Yackey was a player who had the ability to play the run in the box or lineup on the line of scrimmage against a tight end and drop back in coverage.

Yackey is interested in playing college football and has been in touch with Western State Colorado University, which is a Division II school.

"I would like to play D-I, but it's all about the opportunity that comes up," Yackey said.

The 6-foot-1 Yackey also plays basketball and baseball. One of the first guys off the bench for basketball, Yackey is a post player who provides energy and cleans up the glass. On the baseball team, he earned some starts last season in the outfield.

Another one of Yackey's favorite hobbies is racing cars. He's become one of the top young drivers in the state. He races super late models in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series in Division I.
Yackey, who competes under Brett Yackey Racing, has carried on the tradition of racing in his family. Both his grandfathers raced and his dad, Bruce, currently competes in the same series.

Yackey's faced off on the track with his dad about 30 times and has beaten him in over half the races. But he doesn't think about his dad when he's on the track.

"The dad aspect doesn't come in, because he's just another competitor," Yackey said. "But he's also a teammate at the same time."

Yackey had a great start to his career in 2016, being named the Colorado Rookie of the Year. This past summer, Yackey had a great second season. In 20 races, he was first three times, in the top five 10 times and top 10 17 times.

With all Yackey has going on with sports and racing, it's remarkable he even has time to concentrate on school. But Yackey is a gifted student with a 3.75 grade point average.

"Brett's an incredibly unique young man," Luster said. "He does more in the community than any kid I've ever seen while holding a (high) GPA."

Volunteering is big in Yackey's life. Coming up January, he'll be helping on a Special Olympics basketball team at his school. During games, Yackey will be on the court getting rebounds and giving the ball to players.

"I'm looking forward to working with all of those kids, they're really great kids," Yackey said. "A lot of times people overlook them because of their disability or whatever, and I just want to make them feel special and make them feel involved. That's really what it's all about."

Recently, Yackey has also served dinner at a Greeley homeless shelter, helped at a Helping Heroes Fly fundraiser and visited ailing kids at Denver Children's Hospital. He brought his race car to the health care facility to show the patients.

"I enjoyed going down to the children's hospital because of the reaction of the kids to be able to see the race car and get an opportunity they don't usually get," Yackey said. "They're kind of in a dark place in their life and when they get that bright shine come through from having a different opportunity, that's really special."

During the summer, Yackey makes it a point to get out volunteering about once a week. His grandmother is his trusted sidekick for most of the activities he attends.

"He's not a ‘me guy,' he's pretty much a ‘we guy,' " Luster said. "No one would even know the stuff that he does unless you actually pinned him down and asked, ‘What do you do?' He's just a humble kid."

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