A Buckeye has been named the Gatorade State Player of the Year for Pennsylvania for the third year in a row.
Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord received this year's edition of that award on Thursday, in recognition of his senior season at Philadelphia's St. Joseph's Prep, where he passed for 1,582 yards and 21 touchdowns in just six games to lead the Hawks to their third consecutive state championship.
It's another accolade for McCord in recognition of his final high school senior. He was already named as the national player of the year by the National High School Coaches Association in February.
McCord, who is competing with redshirt freshmen C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller to be Ohio State's starting quarterback this fall after enrolling at Ohio State in January, becomes the second straight Buckeye to win the award, joining Ohio State wide receiver Julian Fleming, who won the award after each of his final two seasons at Southern Columbia Area High School.
While no other Ohio State signees won 2020-21 Gatorade Player of the Year awards for their respective states, two other members of the Buckeyes' recruiting class of 2021 won the award last year following their junior seasons: running back TreVeyon Henderson (Virginia) and wide receiver Emeka Egbuka (Washington), neither of whom played a senior season of high school football as they enrolled early at Ohio State while their states both postponed the high school football season to the spring.
