Wandale Robinson adds second Mr. Football award to his decorated résumé

If he wasn’t the best football player in Kentucky last season, Wandale Robinson was by far the most-decorated.

Robinson — who’s enrolled at the University of Nebraska — was named Mr. Football by the Kentucky Associated Press on Monday, giving the Western Hills graduate a sweep of the state’s major individual awards.

Robinson in December received the Louisville Quarterback Club’s 26th annual Paul Hornung Award and the inaugural Kentucky Football Coaches Association Mr. Football honor. The AP Mr. Football award is the oldest of the three major Player of the Year honors in Kentucky, dating back to 1986, and Robinson is its 33rd recipient. A complete list of previous AP Mr. Football winners can be found below.

“It’s just a really great honor to be named Mr. Football,” Robinson wrote in a text message to the Herald-Leader. “I told my parents when I was about 7 years old I would win the award when I was in high school. It’s also great to be, I believe, the first person from Frankfort to win the award.”

Robinson, indeed, is the first Mr. Football winner from a high school in Frankfort. The recognition gave central Kentucky back-to-back Mr. Football winners for the first time in the history of the award (D’mauriae VanCleave, last year’s winner, played at Danville).

A U.S. Army All-America Bowl selection, Robinson finished his career as the state’s second all-time leading scorer with 781 points. He rushed for 1,973 yards and 30 TDs as a senior and also had 725 receiving yards and 11 TDs through the air. He was 8-for-10 for 173 yards and two TD passes this season.

Western Hills is one of eight schools to have produced at least one winner in at least three of the five sports for which major individual Player of the Year award records are known: baseball, boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, football and softball. The others are Ballard, Christian County, Highlands, Lafayette, Paul Laurence Dunbar, South Laurel and Warren Central. Highlands is the only school among the group that has produced a winner in four of the five sports (it has not had a Miss Softball recipient).

The KFCA announced last year that it would award its own Mr. Football award, with the Player of the Year winner in each class being named a finalist for the award. The AP plans to continue recognizing its own Mr. Football.

Some other Kentucky AP Mr. Football stats include ...

▪ Quarterbacks have won the award 15 times, more than any other position group. A running back has been named Mr. Football 10 times, including the most recent three awards. Only three receivers have won the award.

▪ Western Kentucky has produced 13 Mr. Football winners, the most of any region in the state. Louisville has seven. Central Kentucky has produced six total, Northern Kentucky has four and Eastern Kentucky has three.

▪ No player from a Lexington school has won Mr. Football.

▪ Twelve Mr. Football recipients have played for UK and six have suited up for Louisville. Four of the last six winners have signed with an out of state college.

Brandon Smith, the head coach at South Warren, was named AP Coach of the Year after guiding the Spartans to their second state title and first in Class 5A.

Kentucky AP Mr. Football winners

This story was originally published January 14, 2019 at 3:18 PM.