MaxPreps National Football Player of the Year Watch

Four new players join this week's National Player of the Year Watch list, including the nation's No. 1 recruit Leonard Fournette of St. Augustine, who had a big game against Curtis (River Ridge, La.).

The newcomers join mainstays Will Grier, Jake Browning, Treon Harris and others on this week's list.


Will Grier, Davidson Day (Davidson, N.C.)
Davidson Day had the week off, yet Grier still leads the nation with 38 touchdown passes. Grier will face Charlotte Country Day this week, one of two teams to defeat Davidson Day last year. Grier had his lowest yardage and touchdown total of the season last year against Charlotte Country Day, finishing with 262 yards and two touchdowns. Grier has 2,228 yards and has not thrown for less than 309 yards and five touchdowns in a game this year.

Jake Browning, Folsom (Calif.)
After a bye week, Browning will attempt to become the school's, and the Sacramento area's, all-time leading passer in this week's game against Del Oro. With 7,234 yards, Browning needs 457 yards to tie former Folsom quarterback Dano Graves for the career yardage mark. Browning has thrown for 1,986 yards and 30 touchdowns this year.

Treon Harris, Washington (Miami)
Harris returned from injury and led Washington past Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas), 28-12. Harris completed 12 of 22 passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns and also ran 23 times for 65 yards and a score. Washington has another tough task when it takes on Northwestern (Miami) this week.

Shuler Bentley, Byrnes (Duncan, S.C.)
Bentley completed 22 of 32 passes for 396 yards and five touchdowns in a 35-3 win over Spartanburg. He now has 132 completions in 194 attempts for 2,266 yards and 32 touchdowns with just five interceptions. With 10,479 career yards passing, Bentley could surpass former Byrnes quarterbacks Willie Korn (10,626 yards) and Chas Dodd (10,640) to become the school's all-time passer. Byrnes takes on Riverside (Greer) this week.

Deshaun Watson, Gainesville (Ga.)
Watson completed 23 of 28 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns in a 51-6 win over Cedar Shoals. He has 141 completions in 196 attempts for 1,865 yards and 23 touchdowns on the year. His yardage total put him over 11,000 career passing yards, coming in at 11,167.

Justin Sawmiller, Kenton (Ohio)
Sawmiller needs just nine catches this week against Elida to become the nation's all-time leader in receptions. He has 350 going into the game and he would pass Davis Howell of Christian Academy of Knoxville (Tenn.), who set the record with 358 last year. Sawmiller has caught 63 passes for 1,060 yards this season.

Chase Nelson, Logan (Utah)
Nelson has Logan at 7-0 and he ranks among the national leaders in passing yardage and touchdowns. He has completed 151 of 230 passes for 2,189 yards and 30 touchdowns, including at least five in his last four games. He has a high of 503 yards in a game this year.

Nick Chubb, Cedartown (Ga.)



Chubb passed Herschel Walker and moved into eighth place on the all-time rushing touchdowns list in Georgia after scoring three times in a win over River Ridge last week. He has rushed 143 times for 1,532 yards and 24 touchdowns and has 89 career rushing touchdowns.

Leonard Fournette, St. Augustine (New Orleans)
The nation's No. 1 recruit had his best game of the season in leading St. Augustine past Curtis (River Ridge, La.), 29-28 last week. He ran 34 times for 255 yards and also scored on a 27-yard touchdown pass.

Adoree' Jackson, Serra (Gardena, Calif.)
From the same school that has produced receivers like Robert Woods (currently with the Buffalo Bills) and Marqise Lee (University of Southern California), Jackson has done a little of everything for Serra. He's rushed for 262 yards and two touchdowns, caught 27 passes for 553 yards and five touchdowns, and he's returned an interception 102 yards for a score.