The High School Football Rudy Awards 12 finalists announced

Schuylar Hurd-Johnson
6-1, 210, senior
Bishop Chatard (Indianapolis, Ind.) High School
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Hurd-Johnson was nominated by his coach, Vincent Lorenzano. Due to the ruling system of the Indiana High School Athletic Association, this fifth-year high school senior cannot take part in the sport he feels saved his life. When he was nine, his mother died of cancer and shortly afterward his father disappeared. Despite being alone and caring for his younger brother before he turned 13, this extraordinary young man took himself to school as if he had parents at home caring for him. "The system let him down," Lorenzano said. "When you see a kid failing his classes, you reach out to the parents. If anybody had made that call, they would have learned about his situation." Despite not being allowed to play, Hurd-Johnson continued to practice with the team and supports them from the sidelines.