Grenada High School senior wide receiver and recent Mississippi State signee Zayion Cotton led the list of Chargers in the recent Class 6A, Region 1 awards list by being named of Offensive Most Valuable Player.
“It was a good group led by several seniors,” third-year head football coach Michael Fair said. “They put together a good year, and I thought we were well-represented in our district.”
Grenada was 7-4 this season, placing third in the region. The Chargers lost a 35-28 decision in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs at Ridgeland.
Cotton finished his senior season with 54 receptions for 899 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also added a rushing touchdown.
Ten other players earned First Team honors, while six players were named to the Second Team.
They include:
Senior quarterback Brayden Trusty finished his career going 129-of-210 for 1,928 yards and 24 touchdowns to go with just one interceptions. For his career, Trusty threw for more than 4,500 yards and over 40 touchdowns. He had just three career interceptions.
Junior running back Malik Taylor followed in the footsteps of his brother, current Ole Miss Rebels running back, Macaleb, with a solid season. He rushed 148 time for 1,143 yards and 15 touchdowns. As as receiver, Taylor caught eight passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns.
Braylon Hardiman, a sophomore, was named to the First Team as a receiver with 33 receptions for 382 yards and one touchdown.
On the offensive line, three-year starter Quan Bland was named to the First Team. He was joined their by tight ends Andrew Fair and Eli Palmer.
Fair finished the season 11 catches for 120 yards and 4 touchdowns, while Palmer, who spent some of the season injured, had 4 catches for 29 yards.
Senior Jaeden Curry was named First Team Athlete/Punt Returner. He played both offense and defense and returned kicks and punts. As a receiver, he had 4 receptions for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns. Curry accounted 178 yards of returns.
Defensively, Curry accounted for three interceptions.
Defense
Senior outside linebacker Jereon Reed, who led the team with 118 total tackles — 15 tackles for losses, one interception three fumble recoveries was named to the First Team. He was joined by classmate Brayden Hardiman at defensive back. This season, Hardiman had 50 tackles, one fumble recovery.
Houston Whittemore, a senior, averaged 34.7 yards on 27 punts this season.
Second Team
Senior Brayden Neathery was the Second Team kicker. This season, he was 46-of-50 with his extra points and 1-of-2 on field goals.
Other Second Team members include senior offensive lineman Colt Butler and freshman offensive lineman D.J. Hooker and junior offensive lineman Kham Washington.
Junior defensive linemen Cameon Noel and D.J. Dollison were named to the second team.
