Freshman Of The Year – Semaj Stanford
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The 2023 football season is in the books and throughout the last few weeks, we’ve been taking a look back at some of our favorite moments and some of the top storylines in Oklahoma. Earlier this week, we announced the ten finalists for this season’s PRZ-Oklahoma Player Of The Year award. In this post, we’re recognizing and putting the spotlight on this year’s top freshman with the Freshman Of The Year award and we had some great players to select from.
Stay locked in to Prep Redzone Oklahoma for more postseason content! Later today, we’ll also be breaking down some of the other top freshmen from across Oklahoma. Later on, we’ll have more individual spotlights and our All State team selections!
Sometimes in football, actions can speak louder than words. And when we saw a premiere Oklahoma football program like Jenks doing whatever they could do to get freshman Semaj Stanford Semaj Stanford 5'10" | 165 lbs | ATH Jenks | 2027 State OK on the field, we were convinced that Stanford was the real deal. And the words followed up the actions. We talked with Jenks head coach Keith Riggs shortly before a game in early October about Stanford and his words echoed their actions. Stanford was special and he’s only scratching the surface on just how special he can be.
The Jenks standout first emerged on our radar way back in February. He was playing in our 7v7 tournament in Broken Arrow for Sooner 7 and he was the best player in his age division. Throughout the weekend it was evident that he was special and could be a player that provides Jenks with an instant impact player during his freshman year. Stanford was just that for the Trojans as he would make his biggest impact on the defensive side of the ball but he also provided them some playmaking ability on offense and special teams.
This was a Jenks defense that was lights out throughout the season and had some really experienced and talented players on it. Stanford provided that impact from the start. He ended up being fourth on the team in tackles. Think about that stat for a moment. A freshman, playing in the secondary for one of the premiere programs in the state, on a very experienced and talented defense was fourth in tackles.
On offense and special teams, he was mainly in the lineup to give a rest to Jenks’ starting running back and kick returner but Stanford was no stranger to the ball in his hands. He was just much more important to what Jenks did on the defensive side of the ball. As he continues to grow physically, we won’t be surprised to see him develop into a full blown star on both sides of the ball. Once he’s able to handle it, the Trojans will open up the playbook even more, and that’s going to be fun to watch.
There are a lot of factors into Stanford being our pick for Freshman Of The Year. But a big reason why Stanford is our pick for this year’s award was his performances in some of the biggest games. And two of the biggest games were against rival Union in the regular season and then again in the semifinals. Stanford had a pick six in the Backyard Bowl back in September. That was his third game of his varsity career and it helped Jenks put Union in an early hole they couldn’t overcome and Jenks avoided an 0-3 start.
Then in the semifinals, Stanford made big plays in all three phases of the game. First, he had an interception on defense in the second quarter when Union was threatening to go up 28-7. Instead, they trailed 21-10 at halftime. Stanford would then take the second half kickoff all the way back to the Union 1-yard line and the Trojans scored on the next play. And with Jenks trailing 27-25 in the fourth quarter, they went for it on fourth down and found Stanford for the conversion to keep the drive alive with less than two minutes to play. They would later score and punch their ticket to Edmond. All three phases, Stanford was an impact player in big moments.
Jenks has a very bright future and there’s no doubt about that. Not only do they have the reigning freshman of the year coming back, they also have the 2022 freshman of the year returning. Although he was at Broken Arrow when he won that award. The Trojans return the majority of their starters on defense and Stanford is going to give them another weapon to use in all three phases of the game.