The KPGFootball Sophomore All-State Defenders together with our All-State specialist…

Jax Rogers, lifted from his Twitter page (JaxRogers2)

This fulfills our obligation to you, our subscribers, to provide you the most accurate and legitimate information concerning which players are poised to seize the stage in Kentucky High School football. Some of these guys may make other All-State teams, others won’t. However, we are confident you will hear plenty from these guys before their careers are concluded.

The guys below listed, we submit, had the best sophomore years of any of their classmates across the commonwealth of Kentucky in the high school game. Some of these guys have the frame to be recruited to play at the next level, some of them may not. That doesn’t, nor should it, take away from the fact they are tremendous high school football players whose production warranted this recognition.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the following is your KPGFootball All-State Defense together with an All-State P/PK…

FS- Jalen Turner, Breathitt County.

Here is something you might not believe-Turner, before last year, had never played a down of organized football in his life. Wow, we have a hard time believing that too. The 6-4, 190-pound phenom had quite the year. On defense, where he has made this team, the kid collected 40-tackles, 5-interceptions, and a pick-six. He played QB on offense, a place no-one ever thinks to put a novice and threw for just under 1,000 yards on the year in only 61 attempts (38 completions) with 10-TD passes against 3-interceptions. He also carried it 19-times for 153-yards with 3 TDs scored on the ground. One of the best basketball prospects in the mountains, the kid has incredible length and looks like he may grow to 6-7, 6-8 before it is all said and done. FBS-Power-5 prospect right now on the gridiron. 

SS- Tyler Morris, Lexington Christian Academy (LCA).

At 6-0, 185-pounds, this kid has plenty of athleticism and speed to play at all three levels of any high school defense. We could see him at strong-safety should he stay his present size or he may fill-out into a second level, LB-type, or even an End depending on his length. Has the ability to play offense at the TE slot too. LCA had him bending off the edge this year and playing some MLB but we believe his future, at the next level should he stay the size he is, is at strong safety, or as a defense’s 5th LB. In 10 games played, Morris had 4.5 TFLs and 3.5 QB-sacks.  Morris also forced a fumble and recovered one. Like his LCA teammate, Xavier Brown, just a fine athlete who has to be on the team. Finding where to deploy him for our purposes was the only trick. 

C-Kani Smith, 5-8, 150 pounds, Henderson County…

Kani Smith is a guy who is really hampered by his coaching staff’s inexplicable, deplorable, and frankly inexcusable failure to record defensive statistics on the KHSAA website maintained for that purpose. If we didn’t have western-KY pretty well scouted, he would never make any of our postseason teams. He’s lucky to have us. Kani, playing in Kentucky’s largest classification, led his team in interceptions and was second on the team in interception return yards. They fill the air with footballs out in the wild, wild, west (District 1) and Smith has certainly had plenty of opportunity to develop coverage skills. 

C-Ty Bryant, 6-1, 165 pounds, Frederick Douglass…

We would love to credit his skills on defense in the third level against the downfield passing game but his statistics accumulated over the course of the 2019 season failed to shed much light on that. However, Bryant was the most active participant defending the opponent’s attempt to run the football of any of the 3rd level guys who made this team. Bryant plays football for one of Kentucky’s most prestigious programs and at the second highest classification of competition Kentucky boasts (5A). Frederick Douglass was 14-1 in 2019 and played for the title, losing to state champion Covington Catholic, a team believed to be Kentucky’s best high school football team regardless of classification. Ty was credited with 81-tackles this last season, the most amount of tackles of any 3rd level guy on this squad. Bryant also tallied 4-TFLs, forced a fumble, and recovered a fumble. We could see this kid maturing into a SS or even a LB. Don’t tell him he’s not one now, he seems to think he is. He certainly hits like one. 

DL- Selah Brown, Louisville Male.

This is also one of Kentucky’s most coveted prospects in his graduating class. Holding several FBS, Power-5 offers right now, though only a sophomore, his game-play would certainly clarify why. He led one of Kentucky’s premier programs, playing in Kentucky’s largest classification, in tackles for loss (TFL) and QB-sacks. Brown, though mostly deployed inside where the double teams seem to regularly get applied, managed 15-TFLs and 9 QB-sacks.  Brown had 50-tackles all told, 33 of which were solos. He’s a stud, plainly and simply. 

DL- Elijah Manning, Louisville Male.

You are probably getting the impression Male High is right good at football. That would be entirely appropriate. Manning, who has the versatility to play inside or outside along a front, had 74-tackles in 2019 with 8-TFLs and 2 QB-Sacks working mostly inside. We have been praising him since he was in middle school. He’s a prime-time, no-doubt, star on the Kentucky high school football scene.

DL- Bridger Knee, Bowling Green.

Bridger Knee is a kid who will be in the discussion when 2022-prospects are being evaluated closer to their senior years’s expiration. Knee had close to 40-tackles this year and was among the top on the team with QB-sacks at 3 together with a tackle behind the line.  Knee did all of the above while only playing in 11 of BGHS’s 13-games. 

DL- Andrew Burchett, Johnson Central.

Played the quick NG in all 15-games for a team which not only went 15-0 and won the Class 4A Football State Championship but was also considered one of Kentucky’s best in any of its six classifications. Burchett, described as lightening fast off the football, collected 60-tackles, 8.5 TFLs, and a whopping 5 QB-sacks, good for third most on the Eagles’ defense. Burchett also forced a couple of fumbles and recovered one. Get this, he didn’t start for most of 2019, doing all of the above coming off the bench. The kid was everywhere on defense when he was in the game. Could be moved to the 2nd level in 2020, he runs that well. He reminds us of the Babin kid who made this team at NG last year from CAL.

DL- Edgren Sweat, Madison Central.

Sweat is making our team at DL and he would probably play inside for us, maybe even at NG in an odd-front, if we were actually going to play a game. Sweat is a 5-9, 215-pound stud who has listed his primary position as RB on his recruiting profile. That might be a bit wistful considering he gained all of 14-yards and scored one rushing TD in 2019 but that should give you some idea about his “wheels.” Sweat was a defensive bright spot this season for Madison Central High School as he had 52-total tackles in his 11-games of action. However, way more impressively, Edgren collected 17-TFLs and 5.5 QB-sacks working primarily at DE. There are two things we feel it necessary to relate. First, Madison Central competes in Kentucky’s largest classification of football competition. Secondly, the word “competes” was generous for a team which finished 2019, 1-10, with its lone victory coming against lowly Lafayette (2-9). All of that aside, Sweat can flat-out play the game of football and is a rising superstar on the Kentucky High School scene. He is, frankly, the type of player our selection committee prides itself on finding. It is why we are the very best at this. 

LB- Elijah Hammond, Lexington Christian Academy (LCA).

How sick is it to have a guy playing LB whose offensive position is WR? Hammond isn’t just listed there either as the sophomore caught 22-balls this year for 210-yards and a TD reception and was considered for this team on the offensive side of the football. We feel like he shown more brightly on defense this year than on offense. Hammond, playing for one of Kentucky’s premier programs and against one of Kentucky’s hardest schedules, tallied 56-stops from his LB-slot. Hammond also had 6.5 TFLs and a pair of QB-sacks to go along with a pair of interceptions. There are LBs who are one-to-two-gap down-hillers; and there are LBs who are drop into coverage guys, sort of second-level DBs (if you will), and there are LBs who can do it all. Hammond is a “do-it-all” guy.  

LB- Mason LeMaster, Johnson Central.

This kid has what we refer to at KPGFootball as Austin Gough/Justice Thompson-type production at the LB-position. Simply put, if we had a defensive player of the year amongst the sophomores, you might be looking at him. LeMaster who is not any relation to Owen (who made the team at OL) had 132-tackles in 2019 with 11-TFLs and 2.5 QB-sacks. A sophomore LB with over 130-tackles, that is just sick production? Think of this for a moment, Class of 2020’s Devin Johnson, widely considered one of the best LBs in all of Kentucky, had 41-fewer tackles than Mason LeMaster, the same number of TFLs, and 2.5 more QB-sacks. No one would argue Devin Johnson failed to have an All-State type year in 2019. Johnson’s production, over his senior year, has been good enough for him to dot the roster of nearly every All-State team this offseason. LeMaster is a “no-brainer” pick for this squad if you ask us. Does the kid have speed? Well, like Devin Johnson, his offensive position is RB, or so we were led to believe.

LB- Jax Rogers, Mayfield. 

This kid is 6-1, 220-pounds and has been described as “a Thumper.” We hear Rogers is already getting Division I offers while only a sophomore and made the All Western Kentucky Conference’s first team. Rogers had 125-tackles for Coach Morris’ Cardinals who finished 13-2 and lost the State Football Championship to Somerset on, literally, the last play of the ball game.  Rogers is just another in a long line of elite talents at Mayfield High School. 

LB- Johnathan Short, Estill County.

This selection is going to surprise some because Johnathan doesn’t have the prototypical size one covets in a player at the LB position. However, one’s production, not one’s frame, puts players on our teams. This site covers football, we aren’t a site judging swim-suit competitions at beauty pageants. If that is what you want…there’s this site called “Rivals,” go read its content. Can’t argue with Short’s production as Johnathan had himself quite the year for the Engineers. He tallied 78-tackles, recovered 3-fumbles, and led his team with 3-interceptions with 51-return yards. Short played offense for the Engineers, slotted at RB, where he was the third leading rusher in his 11-games of action. Short gained 408-yards on the ground in only 52-carries with 6-rushing TDs. While those numbers weren’t good enough to make this team as an offensive player, it does give you an idea about his speed as a defensive second-level high school standout.  

LB- Davis Joyner, Frederick Douglass. 

Joyner, playing for a State Finalist in Kentucky’s second largest classification really shone on the defensive side of the football in spite of his only being a sophomore. Joyner collected 46-tackles which isn’t too bad but his 12.5 TFLs and 5 QB-sacks really tell the tale of his season more so than just his total tackles. Davis does have the frame colleges covet at the LB position as he is 6-3 and weighs 200-pounds presently. This is a kid who will fill out and may even grow into having his hand in the dirt and bending around the end one day. Frederick Douglass walked him up and brought him off the edge a lot but he showed equal ability to drop back into coverage this year and use his height and length to interrupt passes intended to travel over his head and into the outstretched arms of a receiver or TE working across the field between the second and third levels of the defense. This is a name to remember, if you consider yourself a true judge of Kentucky High School football talent. 

The All-State, Sophomore specialist

P/PK- Jackson Smith, Boyle County.

Our finding this little gem hardly makes us special. After all, Jackson Smith is considered one of America’s elite punters in the high school game in the class of 2022. The kid is also nationally ranked as a place-kicker. His father was a fair country punter for the Kentucky Wildcats in his day, so Jackson has benefitted from excellent tutoring. Jackson, in 2019, was 8-8 in field goals and 88-90 kicking PATs. Punting the ball, he averaged 43.4 yards net, not gross. What this means is his hang-time and distance were so astounding that his average punt changed field position 43.4-yards after factoring in the return, assuming there was one. Now, that is how one makes an All-State team. We strive to avoid awarding one player with All-State distinction at two separate positions, but Jackson Smith really is Kentucky’s top place-kicker and punter in his class and there is no close second.

There it is folks, that completes our Sophomore All-State football team for the 2019-season. As we have always said when posting past teams, these aren’t the only All-Staters in this graduating class as we missed some deserving players as we always do. However, we are quite sure each of these players are very deserving.

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

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About Henry Lyon 1210 Articles
Have coached at the high school and middle school level. Have worked in athletic administration. Conceal my identity to enable my candor on articles published by this magazine. Only members of the editorial board are aware of my true identity.

3 Comments

  1. New to the site and catching up on your articles that I think are great. I may be a little biased, but I would probably include Luke Burton, South Warren, ILB, 6”ft, 210lbs, played both sides of the ball, 43 solo tackles, 12 for loss, and 5 defensive sacks, total of 83 tackles. Scored 7 TD,s rushing and one receiving on offense, utilized in short yardage situations. Started as a Freshman as an OLB on a State Championship team.

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