In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade has announced Desai Drummond of Appoquinimink High School is the 2024-25 Gatorade Delaware Football Player of the Year. Drummond is the first Gatorade Delaware Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Appoquinimink High School.
Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their success on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The award distinguishes Drummond as Delaware’s best high school football player, and he joins an impressive group of alumni that spans CEOs, coaches and star athletes such as Emmitt Smith (1986-87, Escambia High School, Fl.), Peyton Manning (1993-94), Isidore Newman School, La.) and DJ Lagway (2023-24, Willis High School, Texas).
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound junior quarterback passed for 2,080 yards and 26 touchdowns this past season, leading the Jaguars (7-4) to a berth in the 3A state playoffs. Drummond completed 70.3 percent of his passes and was named 3A District 1 Offensive Player of the Year. He also rushed for 348 yards and four touchdowns.
Drummond has volunteered locally with MeadowWood Behavioral Health Hospital and also helps provide food to those in need. In addition, he’s donated his time to the local YMCA as a Youth Camp coach and on behalf of the Child Development Teacher Academy.
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“Desai is legit,” said Michael Judy, head coach at Smyrna High School. “He has the intangibles—height, size, arm strength, etc.—and he had a great year.”
Drummond has maintained a 3.05 GPA in the classroom. He will begin his senior year of high school next fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports – football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field – and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Drummond joins recent Gatorade Delaware Football Players of the Year BJ Alleyne (2023-24, Salesianum School), Yamir Knight (2022-23, Smyrna High School), Braden Davis (2021-22, Middletown High School) and Aidan Sanchez (2020-21, Smyrna High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $5.6 million in grants to winners across more than 2,000 organizations.
The above is a Gatorade news release
