Zane Cook from ‘Mighty Mayfield’ is the @minguabeefjerky Protein-packed Performer of the Week @Zane_Cook56 @mhscoachjoe @CortBraswell @CoachJBrandon @OLBeastCoach03 @1776Bank @840WHAS @KyHighFootball

Makers of the world's finest all-beef jerky products. #Savortheflavor

’26 LB/G may have the most versatile, athletic skill set of any player featured this offseason

Zane Cook is a ’26 kid who played guard across the Mayfield front in ’23 but may move inside to center in ’24. The kid is just perfectly built to play interior offensive line in the KHSAA. He is 5’11,” 240-pounds of muscle. He has quick feet, is very explosive out of his stance, and when he squares you up and targets you down the field, there is just no escape. There is a reason Mayfield just won its 13th-Kentucky Football Championship, it is having offensive linemen like Zane Cook.

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, KPGFootball

500-pound back-squat

Cook’s Hudl Profile

X-account

Zane Cook, No. 56, ready to lead Mayfield to title number 14

Mayfield, KY: Migua Beef Jerky uses Enviro-Pac CHU-2000 equipment to cook its meat to USDA required levels for both moist or dry operation. Mingua Beef Jerky wants you to become one of its many satisfied customers by sampling its quality hand sliced, all natural beef jerky. We know you’ll love it and come back for more, again and again.     

Ronnie Mingua began experimenting with making beef jerky back in the 1990s. He shared his efforts with neighbors and friends, soon realizing he had come up with something different and superior to all other beef jerkies on the market. From these humble beginnings, Mingua Beef Jerky got its start.  

Today, the Mingua Beef Jerky Company still prides itself on using its old-fashioned, all-natural recipes which offer outstanding products to customers across the nation. The recipes are a family tradition, passed down from generation to generation.     

Our recipes and our quality ingredients, hand-cut from solid pieces of beef, are never chopped or formed like other brands, making our products superior and one of a kind. That would make our products similar to this week’s Protein-packed PerformerZane Cook, ’26 G, C from Mayfield High in Mayfield, Graves County, Kentucky. 

…[S]omething different and superior to all other beef jerkies…

KPGFootball on the quality of Mingua’s product

We have been featuring athletic versatility this offseason. Zane Cook is a guy who played mostly guard in ’23 but is likely to slide down inside to center in ’24. Cook appears to be on the track & field team, in throwing events we would wager, so his being a versatile athlete is unquestioned. Judging from some of the videos we have linked, he is an accomplished power-lifter too.

Zane Cook is like the Patterson kid we featured about a month ago from Lexington Christian. Cook may not be taking the “swimsuit competition” at any beauty pageant judging next level frames fit for division one but the short, explosive, powerful product appears well suited to play HS football. The sophomore/rising junior is listed at 5’11,” and tips the scales at 240-pounds.

Cook aligned at guard in ’23. However, Cook looks to align at offensive center in ’24 and perhaps in succeeding seasons as well.

Cook is your prototype for a high school interior OL. Cook would make a fine NG too should Mayfield be looking to use him two ways, as opposed to just the one.

Cook reminds us of a former multi-winner of this same award, William Long (above right), formerly of Breathitt High and now of Centre College. Long played NG his junior and senior year in HS and plays NG for the Colonels where he is a team captain entering the ’24 season. Long was a first team, Associated Press (AP) All-State OL in ’18, ’19’ and ’20 and made the AP, All-State, first-team, in ’20 at both OL & DL.

We could see a similar deployment in the near future for Cook. We could see Cook winning the same type post-season distinctions. The similarities between the two players in frame, size, strength, and explosion is striking.

Cook squats 500-pounds, and strokes it with relative ease

Published to prospect’s “X” account

Cook started upfront for the Cardinals virtually all-season long. With Cook at guard, Mayfield threw for 2,715-yards and 35-TDs while rushing for 2,768-yards and scoring 49-TDs on the ground.

The team, in compiling a 13-1 mark and winning the 2A championship, scored 697-points. That averages close to 50-points a ball game (49.79).

Mayfield will be in the title hunt again in ’24. That is not saying the Carnivals didn’t lose quite a bit to graduation because they certainly did. What we are saying is for programs like Mayfield, what graduated doesn’t often impact the next season’s bottom line.

Mayfield never rebuilds. Mayfield reloads.

Cook should be the leader, if not the captain, of the upfront forces in ’24. We predict he will get significant defensive run over his junior year to go with his play upfront offensively.

Either way, the future is plenty bright for this high school phenom who plays multiple sports and has found a way to contribute mightily to the success of one of Kentucky’s most storied football programs.

Better feed this guy some all-beef, hand-cut protein.

Zane Cook anchored a front which threw for 2,715-yards and 35-TDs, rushed for 2,768-yards and 49-TDs, compiled a 13-1 mark, and won the 2A championship averaging close to 50-points a ball game

KHSAA statistical website/Friday Night Fletch

Join us next week as we return to honor another weekly prize winner. Until then, pop some Mingua Beef Jerky in your mouth and savor the quality and flavor which sets it apart from the competition. Remember, our product is superior and one of a kind; just like Mayfield High’s, Zane Cook. 

This is Friday Night Fletch reporting for Kentucky Prep Gridiron and reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE. Don’t forget to SAVOR THE FLAVOR! 

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About Fletcher Long 1594 Articles
Two-time winner of Kentucky Press Association awards for excellence in writing and reporting news stories while Managing Editor of the Jackson (KY) Times-Voice

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