Fans picked the best high school player of 2022 in Bradenton, Manatee. Here’s the winner
Week after week throughout the 2021-22 high school football season in Manatee County, players hit the field with one objective in mind: to add another W to their teams’ win column.
This year, a number of players showed up and showed out for their schools, coaches, teammates, families and fans, putting up some impressive season stats.
The Bradenton Herald asked fans to vote on who they thought was Manatee County’s Player of the Year. A total of 8,871 high school sports fans took part in our poll.
And the winner is Clayton Dees of Lakewood Ranch High School.
Dees, a dual athlete at Lakewood Ranch competing between the hedges and on the baseball diamond, received 46% of the votes in our poll for a total of 4,080.
In this season for the Mustangs, Dees had 1704 passing yards, a 51.5 completion percentage, an 89.5 QB rating, 13 touchdowns, and only three interceptions.
Dees had not played football since middle school, making this his first year of high school football.
Mustang Head Coach Rashad West told the Bradenton Herald on Tuesday afternoon that what impressed him most about Dees was his athleticism and how quickly he was able to grasp what it takes to be a quarterback.
“He did a terrific job for us this season. He grew each week. He was everything we needed this year,” West said. “He did a great job of coming in, learning his role, and performing on Friday.”
West said he was “pleasantly surprised” at how quickly Dees picked up the team’s offense and the on-field nuances that come with playing the quarterback position.
Lakewood Ranch had a total of three players nominated for our Players of the Year poll, including Clayton Dees, Dalin Koscielski and Kevin Everhart.
Koscielski concluded his junior year with five interceptions, four passes defended, and one fumble recovery and is expected to return to the Mustangs next season.
Everhart ended his tenure as a Mustang with 147 carries for 1065 rushing yards, 23 touchdowns, which set a new school record, and 1468 all-purpose yards.
“Clayton and Kevin really propelled us on offense this year and kind of drove the bus for us; Kevin will certainly be a tough guy to replace,” West said. “It’s a good thing we got Clayton coming back and we got Dalin back on defense, so that helps.”
Here are the Top 5 football players in Manatee County for the 2021–22 high school football season, as voted on by Bradenton Herald readers.
1. Clayton Dees, Lakewood Ranch junior, 4,080 votes.
2. Griffin Derusso, Out-of-Door Academy senior, 3,131 votes.
3. Dalin Koscielski, Lakewood Ranch junior, 428 votes.
4. Ean Johnson-Kelley, Manatee sophomore, 219 votes.
5. Cory Sanders, Manatee junior, 207 votes.
This story was originally published December 21, 2022 at 10:53 AM.
