{"id":394440,"date":"2024-05-16T19:34:40","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T19:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=394440"},"modified":"2024-05-16T20:04:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T20:04:26","slug":"meet-the-usa-today-high-school-sports-awards-all-usa-today-defensive-football-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=394440","title":{"rendered":"Meet the USA TODAY High School Sports Awards All-USA TODAY Defensive Football Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The nominees for National Defensive Football Player of the Year highlight just how great\u2014and competitive\u2014 the 2023 high school season was, with the 25 players listed below each creating headlines every Friday night, Saturday afternoon, or any time the team stepped onto the gridiron.<\/p>\n

A literal Super 25, the list comprises of big-name talents who have moved on to top college programs, plus a few from future graduating classes to keep an eye on this season.<\/p>\n

From this team of top performers across the country, the <\/span>USA TODAY High School Sports Awards<\/span><\/a> will choose one Player of the Year in August \u2014 a perfect pregame celebration ahead of the anticipated 2024 season.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, here’s a look at the 2023-24 HSSA ALL-USA TODAY Defensive Football Team.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oak Grove High School’s PJ Woodland (11) runs the ball during the 7A tournament game against Brandon High School in the 2023 high school football championships on Saturday, Nov. 24, 2023 in Brandon, Miss.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Keylan Abrams<\/strong>, EDGE, DeSoto High School (Texas) \u2014 JR<\/p>\n

Tyler Atkinson<\/strong>, LB, Grayson High School (Georgia) \u2014 SO<\/p>\n

Armondo Blount<\/strong>, DL, Miami Central High School (Florida) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

KJ Bolden<\/strong>, S, Buford High School (Georgia) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Sammy Brown<\/strong>, LB, Jefferson High School (Georgia) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Zabien Brown<\/strong>, DB, Mater Dei High School (California) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Kedrick Burley<\/strong>, EDGE, St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Florida) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Anquon Fegans<\/strong>, S, Thompson High School (Alabama) \u2014 JR<\/p>\n

Elijah Griffin<\/strong>, DL, Savannah Christian Preparatory School (Georgia) \u2014 JR<\/p>\n

LJ McCray<\/strong>, DL, Mainland High School (Florida) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

TayQuon McKinney<\/strong>, EDGE, Louisville High School (Mississippi) \u2014 JR<\/p>\n

Koi Perich<\/strong>, S, Esko High School (Minnesota) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Brayden Platt<\/strong>, LB, Yelm High School (Washington) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Dorian Pringle<\/strong>, LB, Washington High School (Ohio) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Ronnie Royal III<\/strong>, DB, Gulf Shores High School (Alabama) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Devin Sanchez<\/strong>, DB, North Shore High School (Texas) \u2014 JR<\/p>\n

Justin Scott<\/strong>, DL, St. Ignatius College Prep (Illinois) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Aaron Scott Jr.<\/strong>, DB, Springfield High School (Ohio) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Colin Simmons<\/strong>, EDGE, Duncanville High School (Texas) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa<\/strong>, LB, St. John Bosco High School (California) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Deshawn Warner<\/strong>, EDGE, Desert Edge High School (Arizona) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Ari Watford<\/strong>, EDGE, Maury High School (Virginia) \u2014 JR<\/p>\n

Justin Williams<\/strong>, LB, Oak Ridge High School (Texas) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

Marcelles Williams<\/strong>, DB, St. John Bosco High School (California) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

PJ Woodland<\/strong>, DB, Oak Grove High School (Mississippi) \u2014 SR<\/p>\n

From the HSSA<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Nominees for both the regional <\/a>and national <\/a>programs are posted as they are selected. Regional nominees represent the best in their respective areas, while national nominees are\u00a0 recognized as the top high school athletes nationwide. <\/em><\/p>\n

Sign up<\/a> for email updates for your region or nationally to keep up with nominee selections, the awards\u00a0programs\u00a0and special announcements.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow our main Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a> and Threads<\/a> pages for more.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each of the 25 athletes will have a chance to be named Defensive Football Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":394442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394440"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=394440"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":394451,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394440\/revisions\/394451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/394442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=394440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=394440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=394440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}