RB, Ethan Gregory (’24), from North Laurel is blazing a difficult trail for future backs to follow. @NLJAGSFOOTBALL @Egregory3222 @minguabeefjerky @KyHighFootball @kyhighs @HLpreps @MaxPreps @PrepSpin @1776Bank @BoysGirls13th @CoachDerekDay

5’9,” 180-pound RB thriving in his role as the Jaguars primary ball carrier

This is a kid we predicted would do ‘big things’ in the offseason once the regular season arrived. Gregory is a junior and ‘junior year’ is ‘moving day’ if we are seeking to compare football recruiting to a professional golf tour event. This kid is moving right along and famously at that. In this article, we check in on Gregory and see where he is sitting at the ’22 season’s midway point.

Fletcher W. Long, KPGFootball Senior Scout

You are not going to find many football players around Kentucky, at least not in the high school game, who have worked any harder honing his craft than North Laurel’s Ethan Gregory. Gregory, a ’24 RB/ATH, is 5’9,” weighs 180-pounds, has a low center of gravity, can cut on a dime, and is built like a solid brick outhouse.

We are at the halfway point for many schools around Kentucky. It is getting time for programs to issue report cards determining what grade players should be awarded for the half-season’s work. It would be difficult not to award Gregory an “A,” at least so far.

Gregor has carried the football 87-times on the year. Gregory has gained 624-net rushing yards, averaged close to 7.2 yards per carry, and scored one or more rushing TDs per contest thus far (6-TD’s in 5-games).

This is where we interject Gregory is playing 5A football in the 8th-District. With Southwestern and Pulaski County in the same district, a little football gets played around those parts.

The point is…Gregory isn’t amassing numbers playing the Convent for the Little Sisters of the Poor. Gregory plays Big Boy football against Big Boy competition.

So, how does Gregory’s numbers stack up agains the rest of 5A? Well, Gregory ranks 4th in Kentucky (at the 5A classification) in net rushing yards and is tied for 3rd in rushing yards per game.

The most important statistic to Gregory is North Laurel’s being 4-1. The Jags are an eight-point loss, on the road in the opener to a tough Bell County team, from undefeated.

This past Friday night, in the “Battle for Laurel County (North vs. South Laurel),” Gregory was particularly lethal. Gregory carried the football only 13-times, breaking away for 156-yards rushing, scoring a TD, and averaging 12-yards every time the football was handed off to him.

Gregory and his North Laurel teammates face a real test this coming Friday night. The Jags will host Coach Jason Foley’s Warriors from Southwestern (5-0).

The Warriors have its own star RB in Tanner Wright (’23). Gregory has out rushed Wright, through the first five games, by a measly 10-yards (Gregory, 624-yards; Wright, 614-yards). Friday night’s matchup between the two star RB’s should be an epic one.

This much we know through the first five games. Gregory is blazing a difficult trail to follow. Darn few playing 5A football from across the commonwealth this season have successfully done it.

This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!

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