Midseason 3A Offensive Player of the Year Watchlist

<p>We're just over halfway through the regular season and after checking in with players by year, it's time to start preparing for our end of year awards. We're not sure exactly how, but we want to have a fan-voted element to this year's Player of the Year lists. That will come next month. For now, we wanted to give people an idea of where we stand with these awards.</p>   <p>While this list won't be exhaustive, there's a good chance our 3A Offensive Player of the Year comes from this list. Here are some guys we think could take home the award.</p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Top 3A Offensive Player of the Year Candidates</h2>   <p>As a note here, while Prep Redzone typically focuses more on college potential than high school stats, this is a notable exception. We're not simply giving the award to the highest-ranked player in the class and will instead seek to give it to the player who has the biggest impact on the game in each class.</p>   <p>Accordingly, there will be high-profile players who don't even make our check-ins and watch lists and there might be some players on the lists that don't end up gaining much traction on the recruiting trail. That being said, these players are some of the best in their class and deserve to be recognized.</p>    <p class="text-gray-700">When we heard Hewitt was moving to Havelock in the offseason, we thought he'd play well, but he's surprised even us by the numbers he's putting up. He's averaging over 350 yards a game through the air and leads the class with 31 touchdowns. He certainly has a lot of talent around him and a few of his teammates will be on this list as well, Hewitt leads the way so far.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">We typically don't rank players prior to the release of their first varsity film, but we decided at the last minute to make an exception based on some information we got about Payne in the preseason. It turns out that proved to be spot on, as he's third in the class in passing and has the West Carteret offense humming.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Mahan is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the state and he's showing it so far as a senior. He's eighth in the class in passing yardage, but he's also added over 600 yards on the ground. He's always had a huge arm, but this season, he's really improved his accuracy and is completing over 70% of his passes.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Mageo got off to an electric start this year and has continued his stellar play, avergaing over 200 yards a game. He's been efficient, averaging over nine yards a carry, and his 23 touchdowns are also helping White Oak out to an 8-1 record. He has five 200-yard games this season.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">We knew coming into the season that Mitchell would be one of the top running backs in the state and he's lived up to that. He's averaging over 13 yards a carry and is a touchdown waiting to happen from anywhere on the field. Southern Nash is 8-1 and if they're going to make some noise in the postseason, it will be largely because of Mitchell.</p>     <p class="text-gray-700">Leak has been phenomenal this season after coming on strong down the stretch last year. He has a touchdown reception in every game, and is seventh in the state in yards. He's had at least 100 yards in five of his last six games, so it looks like he's getting better to end the season again this year.</p>    <p></p>   <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Other 3A Offensive Player of the Year Candidates</h2>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Shannon Wingate, RB, North Lincoln</h3>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Ricky Elliott, RB, C.B. Aycock</h3>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Demon June, RB, Jacksonville</h3>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">[player_tooltip player_id='1050807' first='Tyson' last='Broadway'], QB, Southern</h3>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">[player_tooltip player_id='527014' first='Brady' last='Stober'], QB, Hickory</h3>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Jaquez Carter, QB, Dudley</h3>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">[player_tooltip player_id='1181591' first='Jonathan' last='Williams'], WR, Havelock</h3>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">LJ Forney, WR, East Lincoln</h3>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">[player_tooltip player_id='772815' first='CJ' last='Neely'], WR, Dudley</h3>   <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Jordan Coleman, WR, Swansboro</h3>   <p>Think we missed someone? Let me know on Twitter (@whelms21). Want to make sure we see you compete in person? Register for our <a href="https://events.prepredzone.com/e/1324/register/carolinas-stock-up-showcase">Stock Up Showcase</a> on Dec. 15. Use discount code HelmsPRZ2024 at checkout for $10 off your registration.</p>

We're just over halfway through the regular season and after checking in with players by year, it's time to start preparing for our end of year awards. We're not sure exactly how, but we want to have a fan-voted element to this year's Player of the Year lists. That will come next month. For now, we wanted to give people an idea of where we stand with these awards.