Bertram a star in more than the one sport
Coming out of middle school, John Simon Bertram was considered more of a basketball phenom than a football star. That should tell you how quickly a freshman season like Bertram had, and a 2A football title, can change the equation. It doesn’t look like Bertram reported to duty for Coach Ted Hall’s varsity roundball Eagles. Perhaps Bertram has decided his future is better developed working on football in his off-season. Either way, there can be no doubt Bertram has a tremendous upside on the gridiron.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
eCampus.com was built on a simple idea: make textbooks affordable, convenient, and accessible for every student. Founded in 1999 in Lexington, KY and backed by visionary investors like Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas, the company has grown into a premier online textbook retailer for high school and college students nationwide.
Their mission has always been supporting student success both on and off the field through affordable access to the course materials they need. eCampus.com is excited to invest in our student-athletes through Kentucky Prep Gridiron (KPGFootball) which was founded to promote and assist young high school football players get promoted to “next level,” college football opportunities.
That is why eCampus.com sponsors the KPGFootball, Big Man on the eCampus series. This week’s Big Man on the eCampus is Simon Bertram (again). One reason we are featuring him here is Bertram could well have made the Small School All-State Football Team and just missed.
Bertram’s exclusion was more related to his being a freshman than anything else. Sure there were a few freshmen who made it but their number was both few and far between.
Perhaps Bertram should have made it. No all-state team is flawless.
Lexington Christian Academy (LCA) perennially competes for KHSAA championships at its level of play. Players developing into stars, like Bertram, have a ton to do with the program’s success.
Small School All-State Reveal Show
Lexington, KY: There is no secret how LCA scaled to the top of the mountain top in 2025. The roster was laden with talent sufficient to keep the Eagles in the race this season and, seemingly, for several years to come.
Who knew the roster would possess the freshman talent we saw from the Eagles in ’25. I have seen some young talent developmentally far along, but the LCA roster was just ridiculous.
John Simon Bertram is a guy we have before featured. Bertram scored both on offense (two TDs receiving) and on defense (pick-six returned 61-yards). Bertram logged 15.5-tackles, 1.5 TFLs, and the interception he returned 61-yards for a score.
Bertram played offense too. Bertram caught nine (9) passes for 220-yards and a couple scores. In case you were wondering, that comes out to slightly less than 25-yards a catch. That means this young guy was getting to the third level, stretching opposing defenses.
Bertram is a guy who has tremendous upside. Bertram has good height and length on this frame and steady, reliable hands coupled with disciplined route-running with good speed and spacial quickness. Bertram is explosive, making him able to gain easy separation from opposing defenses and to cover space seamlessly when he’s the one doing the covering.
Players don’t average nearly 25-yards a reception in a vacuum. One has to have “skills” to pull off an average like that.
Players don’t average nearly 25-yards a reception in a vacuum
Friday Night Fletch
Going forward, we see as bright a future for Bertram in the defensive third level as we do on offense. There weren’t too many freshmen, this past season, who scored on both sides of the football; much less freshmen who picked passes and took them back over 60-yards to the house.
Bertram made the most of a limited number of opportunities. There will be increasingly more plays for Bertram as he matures, develops, and steadies himself on the roster’s first string and in the rotation.
Bertram got a ton of snaps for a freshman. He is certainly off to a very promising start.
If you are wondering, that is how one wins awards like this one. Just in case you were pondering it…
Join us next week as we honor another eCampus.com, Big Man on the eCampus, furthering off our offseason coverage. Until then, from any classroom to every field, eCampus.com delivers an easy, fast, and affordable way to order textbooks for students everywhere.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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