Jirehl Brock of Quincy Senior High School is the 2018-19 Gatorade Illinois Football Player of the Year. Brock is the first Gatorade Illinois Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Quincy Senior High School.
The 6-foot-1, 207-pound senior running back and safety rushed for 2,155 yards and 33 touchdowns on 188 carries this past season, leading the Blue Devils to a 7-3 record and the Class 6A playoffs. Brock chipped in with seven pass receptions for 137 yards and four touchdowns, he recorded 26 tackles and two interceptions on defense. The career rushing leader in the Western Big 6 Conference, he is a First Team All-State selection and the Herald-Whig Player of the Year.
A devoted member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Brock has volunteered locally on behalf of the Special Olympics, youth sports camps and an elementary school reading initiative. “Jirehl Brock is just an extraordinary football player,” said Todd Depoorter, head coach at Alleman High. “In my 30 years of coaching high school football at Alleman, he’s the finest running back I’ve ever seen or coached against. He was an incredible player on defense too, a very intimidating tackler with a great sense for the ball.”
Brock has maintained a 3.10 GPA in the classroom. He has verbally committed to play football on scholarship at Iowa
State University next fall.
Brock joins recent Gatorade Illinois Football Players of the Year Samson Evans (2017-18, Prairie Ridge High School), Jake Marwede (2016-17, Loyola Academy), Sam Brodner (2015-16, Glenbard West High School), Gabe Green (2014-15, Sacred Heart-Griffin High School), and Justin Jackson (2013-14, Glenbard North High School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
