In January, Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown became the 13th player to be named MaxPreps National Sophomore of the Year. Aledo (Texas) running back Johnathan Gray was the inaugural winner in 2009.
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We are looking back at the careers of each of the winners, including one who was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press in 2020.
Six of the former sophomore stars are still playing at the college level while Brown is once again under center for one of the best high school teams in the country.
Elijah Brown
Photo: Robbie Rakestraw
Stats: 2,581 passing yards, 30 TD passes, 2 rushing TDs
During the Monarchs' 2021 national championship run, Brown completed 74 percent of his passes. The wins piled up and Mater Dei ran the table. Brown is a four-star recruit with offers that include Alabama, Georgia and Michigan and he has won all 23 of his starts four games into his junior campaign.
2020: Lebbeus Overton, DL, Milton (Ga.)Sophomore stats: 70 tackles, 38 TFL, 21.5 sacks, 6 forced fumbles
Overton was a man from the time he had six sacks as an eighth grader for Bessemer Academy in Alabama. His dedication to getting to the QB was like no other. He had 19 sacks during his freshman year and Bessemer won a state championship. During his sophomore year at Milton, Overton couldn't be stopped. He sacked the QB more than 20 times, forced six fumbles and had 70 tackles. The next season, Milton made it to the state championship game. He left for Texas A&M after his junior season.
2019: Quinn Ewers, QB, Southlake Carroll (Southlake, Texas)Stats: 4,003 passing yards, 45 passing TDs, 9 rushing touchdowns
Ewers threw for 4,003 yards as a sophomore and became the next great quarterback at Southlake Carroll. During the shortened 2021 season, Ewers averaged more than 300 yards a game while leading the Dragons to the state championship game as a junior. He left high school after his junior year to head to Ohio State, where he played two snaps for a team that went to the Rose Bowl. Following the season he transferred to Texas.
Quinn Ewers
Photo: Robbie Rakestraw
3,350 passing yards, 43 TDs, 421 yards rushing yards, 6 rushing TDs
Davis led North Shore to two state championships and the Mustangs finished in the top 10 nationally three times from 2018-2020. During his 2018 sophomore season, Davis accounted for 49 touchdowns and North Shore went 15-0, outscoring opponents by an average of 40 per game. He went to Auburn in 2021 but transferred to Alabama State, where he is the starting quarterback.
2017: D.J. Uiaglelei, QB, St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.)Sophomore stats: 2,905 passing yards, 31 TDs, 379 rushing yards, 4 rushing TDs
Uiaglelei threw for more than 10,000 yards as the Braves finished among the top three in the national rankings in each of this three seasons. His sophomore and junior seasons ended in playoff losses to Mater Dei but he made it to the mountaintop as a senior and St. John Bosco won the national championship. The five-star recruit backed up future No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence at Clemson as a freshman but shined in a start against Notre Dame where he threw for 439 yards. He led the Tigers to a 10-3 record as a sophomore.
Stats: 4,849 passing yards, 67 TD passes
Daniels was a wizard at Mater Dei, where he led the Monarchs to a national title in 2017. He threw for more than 12,000 career yards while amassing 152 passing TDs. After his junior year, he left for USC and threw for 2,672 yards and 14 TDs in what could have been his senior year of high school. His time as a Trojan ended when he went down in the first game of his sophomore year. He transferred to Georgia where he threw for 392 yards in a Peach Bowl win over Cincinnati in 2020. He again got hurt in the 2021 season, but picked up a championship ring in the process. Now Daniels is at West Virginia with two years of eligibility remaining.
2015: Dakereon Joyner, QB, Fort Dorchester (North Charleston, S.C.)Stats: 3,202 passing yards, 33 passing TDs, 1,058 rushing yards, 19 rushing TDs
Joyner led the Patriots to the first state championship in school history as a sophomore in 2015 and tossed or nearly 10,000 yards in his career, going 40-3 in the process. The four-star recruit went on to play at South Carolina and was switched to wide receiver during his freshman year. After not throwing a pass for more than two years, Joyner was still prepared when his number was called in the 2021 Duke's Mayo Bowl. He was perfect, completing all nine of his passes for 160 yards and a TD in the team's win over North Carolina. He picked up Duke's Mayo Bowl MVP in the process. Joyner has two years of eligibility remaining.
Tate Martell
Photo: Jann Hendry
2,537 passing yards, 40 TDs, 433 rushing yards, 5 rushing TDs
Martell was not only a star on the field, but shined on the screen, starring in the Netflix show QB1: Beyond the Lights. The show followed him on and off the field during his senior year as Martell wrapped up his career with a national championship. In his three years at Bishop Gorman, he threw 113 TDs against just nine INTs while accumulating a 45-0 record. The heralded recruit first went to Ohio State where he backed up future first round pick Dwayne Haskins in 2018. He only threw 28 passes in Columbus but completed 23 of them for 269 yards and a touchdown. Martell then transferred to Miami for two years and UNLV in 2021 where he threw for 27 yards before announcing his retirement.
2013: Cameron Chambers, WR, Timber Creek Regional (Erial, N.J.)Stats: 57 receptions, 1,196 yards, 12 TDs
Chambers finished his sophomore year by catching 11 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns in a state championship loss. Timber Creek made it back to the state championship game in his junior year and won it during his 2015 senior season. The four-star recruit went to Michigan State and recorded 24 receptions for 330 yards in two years with the Spartans.
2012: Austin Kafentzis, QB, Jordan (Sandy, Utah)Stats: 3,018 passing yards, 32 passing TDs, 1,884 rushing yards, 26 rushing TDs
Kafentzis combined to throw and run for more than 20,000 yards while scoring 218 touchdowns in his four-year career. The signal caller led Jordan to a state championship as a sophomore. His college career began at Wisconsin with later stops at Nevada and BYU.
2011: Jabrill Peppers, DB, Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)Stats: 50 tackles, 4 interceptions, 912 rushing yards, 7.9 yards per carry, 3 receiving touchdowns
Peppers spent his first two years at Don Bosco Prep before transferring to Paramus Catholic for his final two seasons. He made a difference in all three phases of the game, which led to four state championships and a national championship as a sophomore. The five-star recruit immediately made a difference at Michigan where he was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. The following season in 2016 he was a consensus All-American as the Wolverines went to the Orange Bowl. Peppers was selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. He now plays for the Patriots and has four career interceptions.
Derrick Henry
Photo: Gray Quetti
2,788 rushing yards, 38 rushing touchdowns, 3 sacks, 1 blocked punt
In the NFL, Henry is one of just eight running backs to rush for 2,000 yards in a single season. As a Florida high schooler, he hit that mark each of his four years and eclipsed 4,000 rushing yards as a senior in 2012. That included 510 yards and six touchdowns in a single game. As a junior at Alabama, he finished with 2,219 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns on his way to a Heisman Trophy and a Crimson Tide national championship. Henry was selected in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft and has led the league in rushing twice.
2009: Johnathan Gray, RB, Aledo (Aledo, Texas)Stats: 2,813 rushing yards, 50 rushing TDs, 30 receptions for 479 yards and 9 TDs
Gray was a touchdown machine at Aledo, where he scored a national record 205 touchdowns and ran for 10,889 yards as the Bearcats won three straight Texas state championships. The five-star recruit continued his career at the University of Texas, where he led the team in rushing as a true freshman. Injuries derailed his promising career and he never finished with more than 800 yards in a single season. He went undrafted in 2016 and had tryouts with the New York Giants and several teams in the CFL but was never signed. In 2021 he signed with the Frisco Fighters of the Indoor Football League but never appeared in a game.
