Camden’s McLeod Wins South Carolina Mr. Football 2022

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Not all that long ago, [player_tooltip player_id='89338' first='Xzavier' last='McLeod'] was a basketball-first guy.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When a family friend got him into football, he was a natural defensive lineman who showed enough skill that college offers soon followed. On Saturday, the change of sport concentration made even more sense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Camden senior is now South Carolina's Mr. Football 2022, an award he was given at halftime of the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives Bowl on Saturday in Myrtle Beach.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“I haven't always liked football. I was a basketball player,” McLeod said after the presentation. “I had heard about Mr. Football, but I never thought I'd get one. I was just playing to play.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Try telling that to many of the opposing offensive linemen who were in the same trenches as McLeod over the last few years.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>McLeod, Prep Red Zone's top defensive lineman in the state and the No. 2 overall player in our current rankings, finished his senior season that included 40 total tackles (35 solo, 10 assisted) in just 10 games. He also had 13 tackles for loss, six sacks three forced fumbles and blocked a field goal. In his 38-game varsity career, he notched 16 sacks, 47 tackles for loss and 137 total tackles.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>He also helped the Bulldogs to a pair of state championship game in 2020 and 2021.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“After his sophomore year, we thought he could be one of the best players in South Carolina,” Camden coach Brian Rimpf said. “We played in the championship game and we just felt like he had a shot at this award.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>McLeod is the 11th winner in the 28 years of the award's history to head to South Carolina. Most recently, he follows in the footsteps of Myrtle Beach's Luke Doty (2019), T.L. Hanna's Zacch Pickens (2018) and Fort Dorchester's Dakereon Joyner (2018).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Last year's winner, Hilton Head's Jaylen Sneed, is now at Notre Dame.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>McLeod is also the third straight defensive player to win the honor, following Sneed and Gaffney's <strong>Ty'rion Ingram-Dawkins</strong> in 2020. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The latest of the bunch beat out six other finalists: Dutch Fork tailback [player_tooltip player_id='91136' first='Jarvis' last='Green'], Clinton tailback and linebacker <strong>Bryson James</strong>, Spartanburg quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='89339' first='Raheim' last='Jeter'], Lexington tailback [player_tooltip player_id='443502' first='Jonah' last='Norris'], South Florence quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='146356' first='LaNorris' last='Sellers'] and Barnwell tailback [player_tooltip player_id='262552' first='Tyler' last='J Smith']. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Green led Dutch Fork to the Class 5A state championship by rushing for 2,272 yards and 33 touchdowns and catching 527 yards and six touchdowns worth of passes. Green was part of three state championships.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>James played on offense, defense and special teams for the Red Devils this year. He finished the season with 1,529 yards and 29 touchdowns on the ground, returned three kickoffs for touchdowns and recorded 90.5 tackles and 18 tackles for loss.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Jeter, who is verbally committed to East Carolina, threw for 2,344 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushed for another&nbsp;378 yards and three scores for the Vikings this fall. Jeter threw for more than 5,000 yards in his career and accounted for 48 total touchdowns.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Norris returned from an injury during his junior season to rush for 1,959 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Wildcats this fall. He averaged 163 yards rushing per game and added 10 receptions for 105 yards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sellers, who is verbally committed to Syracuse, led the Bruins to the Class 4A state championship by throwing for 2,948 yards and 45 touchdowns against only two interceptions while rushing for another 1,338 yards and 17 touchdowns.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Smith led the state in rushing yards with 2,903 yards and 46 touchdowns. He played on the Warhorses' varsity team for four seasons, and in two years as the starting running back, he tallied more than 5,000 rushing yards.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->