Herald-Leader Hundred: 2021’s top Kentucky high school football players
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2021 Kentucky high school football preview
The 2021 high school football season kicks off Friday, Aug. 20. High school sports beat writer Jared Peck is writing numerous stories in the Herald-Leader and on Kentucky.com previewing the season around the city, region and state and highlighting the top players and games and rankings. Click below to read all of his stories in case you missed any of them.
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High school football coaches across Kentucky were asked to rank who they believe are the 10 best prep players in the state. This year, the result came down to the last few submissions.
After 89 coaches weighed in, Frederick Douglass wide receiver Dane Key came out on top of the 2021 Herald-Leader Hundred, edging out Owensboro quarterback Gavin Wimsatt by a 10-point margin despite having one fewer No. 1 vote than Wimsatt (11-10). Key made up ground elsewhere.
While one might suspect a Lexington bias in Key’s hometown paper, only two of Lexington’s nine schools put the Broncos wideout on their ballot. And one of those voted Key second to Wimsatt.
Key, an undecided four-star recruit, ranks as the No. 2 recruit in the state behind Wimsatt, according to 247Sports.com, and is heralded as the No. 36 wide receiver in the nation from the class of 2022. He has at least 21 college offers, with his father Donte Key’s alma mater, Kentucky, among them.
Wimsatt has committed to Rutgers and led Owensboro to the Class 5A state finals last season as a junior with the Red Devils defeating Douglass along the way.
Also among the top 10 are two fifth-year seniors, Beechwood’s Cameron Hergott and Belfry’s Isaac Dixon, who took advantage of Senate Bill 128 to repeat their COVID-19 marred school year. Hergott led the Tigers to state titles in 2018 and 2020 and was named Mr. Football by the Kentucky Football Coaches Association and co-Mr. Football by the Associated Press last year. Dixon was among the top rushers and scorers in the state for the Pirates.
Hergott shared the AP Mr. Football with Frederick Douglass’ Jager Burton last year. Burton, now at Kentucky, was No. 1 in the 2020 H-L Hundred.
Kentucky commits Grant Bingham of Johnson Central and Treyveon Longmire of Corbin also make the list, as do UK recruiting targets Selah Brown of Male and Jawaun Northington of Manual. Virginia commit Xavier Brown of Lexington Christian and Wisconsin commit Vinny Anthony of Male complete the coaches’ top 10.
The following Herald-Leader Hundred is @HLpreps’ preseason list of the top 100 players in the state, as put forth by high school head coaches and also selected by digital sports writer Jared Peck.
The top 10 players are presented in order of votes received from the coaches, who were asked to rank the top 10 players in the state regardless of school classification. Rankings were assigned point values of 10 points for a top pick down to one point for the 10th player on the list. All of the state’s 225 head coaches were invited to participate, with 89 responding to the player-rankings question out of the 176 preseason surveys returned.
The next 40 players, in alphabetical order, are among those most often named as part of that polling combined with @HLprep’s picks based on their career, statistics, recruiting rankings and coaches’ comments.
Additionally, 50 more notable players from Kentucky’s various geographic regions are recognized as players to watch.
THE TOP 10
School/class: Frederick Douglass/Sr.
Height/weight/position: 6-2/179/WR
Total points received in survey: 298
School/class: Owensboro/Sr.
Height/weight/position: 6-3/197/QB
Total points received in survey: 288
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School/class: Johnson Central/Sr.
Height/weight/position: 6-6/302/OT
Total points received in survey: 226
School/class: Male/Sr.
Height/weight/position: 6-2/251/DL
Total points received in survey: 205
School/class: Beechwood/Sr.*
Height/weight/position: 6-3/200/QB
Total points received in survey: 185
School/class: Corbin/Sr.
Height/weight/position: 6-2/170/ATH
Total points received in survey: 156
School/class: Belfry/Sr.*
Height/weight/position: 5-11/195/RB/CB
Total points received in survey: 142
School/class: Lexington Christian/Sr.
Height/weight/position: 5-11/180/RB
Total points received in survey: 136
School/class: Male/Sr.
Height/weight/position: 6-1/170/WR
Total points received in survey: 108
School/class: Manual/Sr.
Height/weight/position: 5-11/185/ATH
Total points received in survey: 89
THE NEXT 40
Matt Anderson, Pike County Central, 5-10/230, Jr. RB
Sydney Bowen, Williamsburg, 5-10/195, Jr. QB
Hunter Bradley, McCracken County, 6-0/208, Sr.* RB
Ty Bryant, Frederick Douglass, 6-1/185, Jr. FS/RB
Luke Burton, South Warren, 6-1/215, Sr. LB
Zane Christian, Ashland Blazer, 6-3/245, Sr. OL/DL
Brady Clark, Bardstown, 6-4/205, Sr. QB
Brayden Dunn, Mercer County, 5-9/175, Sr. RB/LB
Jagger Gillis, Boyle County, 6-2/205, Sr.* QB
Michael Hawkins, Somerset, 6-5, 235, Sr. TE/DE
Joe Humphreys, Daviess County, 6-4/195, Sr. QB
Caden Johnson, Frederick Douglass, 6-2/230, Sr. LB
Davis Joyner, Frederick Douglass, 6-3/200, Sr. LB
Jeremiah Lightfoot, Bowling Green, 6-4/286, Sr. DT/FB
Zac Lockhart, Pikeville, 6-1/180, Sr. WR
Elijah Manning, Male, 6-1/230, Sr. LB
Cam Marshall, Paducah Tilghman, 6-3/185, Sr.* DB
Clint McKee, Graves County, 6-0/200, Sr. RB/FS
Isaac McNamee, Pikeville, 6-4/210, Sr. QB
Easton Messer, Christian Academy-Louisville, 5-10/175 Sr. WR/DB
LaDarion Montgomery, Bethlehem, 5-10/185, Sr. ATH
Mason Moore, Lexington Christian, 6-1/190, Sr. WR/LB
Kaden Moorman, Franklin County, 5-11/205, Jr. ATH
Braxten Newborn, Ludlow, 6-0/190, Sr. RB/LB
Drew Nieves, Lexington Christian, 5-11/175, Jr. QB
Cameron Patterson, Scott, 6-5/210, Sr. WR
Dakota Patterson, Corbin, 6-4/205, Jr. WR
Cole Pennington, Sayre, 6-3/200, Sr. QB
Kalib Perry, Great Crossing, 6-4/215, Sr. ATH
Harris Phelps, Paintsville, 5-11/170, Jr. RB/CB
Luke Slusher, Beechwood, 6-5/285, Sr. OT/DT
Jadairion Smith, Ballard, 6-3/220, Sr. DL/LB
Walter Smith, Madison Southern, 5-9/165, Sr. WR/FS
Armon Tucker, Trinity, 5-10/175, Sr. RB
Caden Veltkamp, South Warren, 6-5/215, Sr. QB
Cole Wallace, Rowan County, 5-10/186, Sr.* RB/SS
Evan Wibberley, Dixie Heights, 6-5/274, Sr. T/G
Malachi Williams, Central, 6-2/220, Sr. RB/LB
Dylan Yates, Crittenden County, 6-1/230, Sr. DE/DT
Tommy Ziesmer, Boyle County, 6-3/238, Jr. TE/DE
AND 50 MORE FROM …
LEXINGTON: Joey Bond, Sr. RB, Bryan Station; Samuel Cornett, Sr. QB, Frederick Douglass; TJ Horton, Jr. CB, Frederick Douglass; Tyler Morris, Sr. OLB/SS, Lexington Christian; Anthony Johns, Sr. OL/DL, Lexington Christian; Isaiah Kenney, Jr. SS, Frederick Douglass.
CENTRAL KENTUCKY: Zack Claudio, Sr. WR/CB, Franklin County; Oryend Fisher, Sr. DE, Great Crossing; Jeremy Hamilton, Sr. RB, Scott County; Jacob Jones, Jr. QB, West Jessamine; Peyton Ledford, Jr. TE/LB, Franklin County; Campton Martin, Sr.* RB/CB, Scott County; Preston Stacy, Jr. FB/LB, Woodford County; Jackson Smith, Sr. K/P, Boyle County; Malachi Wood, Jr. OT, Madison Central.
LOUISVILLE AREA: Nate Caldwell, Sr. RB/SS, Kentucky Country Day; Micah Carter, Jr. DE, St. Xavier; Jeremiah Collins, Jr. WR/CB, Male; Kenyon Goodin, Jr. ATH, Collins; Jeremiah Monroe, Jr. WR/CB, Male; Mekhi Smith, Sr. ATH, St. Xavier; William Spencer, Jr. DL/OL, Male.
EASTERN KENTUCKY: Lincoln Billiter, Sr. TE/LB, Shelby Valley; Gavin Chadwell, So. TE/DE, Knox Central; Landon Hammock, Sr. T/DT, Pikeville; Ty Niece, Sr. QB/FS, Estill County; Jaylen Turner, Sr. QB/FS, Breathitt County.
NORTHERN KENTUCKY: Chase Crone, Jr. QB, Simon Kenton; Brandon Dearing, Sr. RB/LB, Mason County; Charlie Noon, Jr. QB, Highlands; Pierce Rohlman, Sr. RB/FS, Dixie Heights; Gabe Savage, Sr. LB/DT, Ryle.
SOUTH-CENTRAL KENTUCKY: Trevon Alexander, Jr. T/G, North Hardin; Austin Anderson, Jr. G/T, Bowling Green; Wyatt Blythe, Jr. WR/CB, Metcalfe County; Cristian Conyer, Jr. WR/CB, South Warren; Gavin Gossage, Sr. QB, Russell County; Lofton Howard, Jr. LB, Greenwood; Hayes Johnson, So. T/G, Taylor County; Drew Polston, Sr. QB, Pulaski County; Hunter Scott, Sr. RB, Glasgow; Keyandre Strand, Sr. RB/LB, John Hardin; Barek Williams, Jr. RB/S, Pulaski County; Manie Wimberly, Sr. QB, Central Hardin.
WESTERN KENTUCKY: Kendric Adams, Sr. RB/LB, Trigg County; Saadiq Clements, Jr. DE, Henderson County; Kylan Galbreath, Sr.* RB/LB, Mayfield; Jak Lindsey, So. T/C, Owensboro; Daisjaun Mercer, Jr. DB, Hopkinsville; Braden Mundy, Sr. WR/RB, Owensboro Catholic.
(* Fifth-year senior.)
Miss someone? Putting together a list of top players is an inexact science. Have someone in mind? Message digital sports writer Jared Peck on Twitter @HLpreps.
This story was originally published August 15, 2021 at 9:50 AM.
