Zander Simpson from Pulaski County High is the @minguabeefjerky Protein-packed Performer of the Week and he’s also ‘the truth.’ @JohnHines66 @1776Bank @kyhighs @HLpreps @PrepSpin @KyHighFootball @MaxPreps

The Maroons’ diminutive athlete steps across the white line and brings it

We celebrate the high school game. That means, from time to time, we are going to award this prestigious award to a player who may or may not be a college prospect but is still entitled to the “Bally-hoo” which comes with being a Friday Night star. This kid here is five-foot nothing, a hundred and nothing…but has the temerity to be among the better players on the roster of one of the better programs in Kentucky.

HB Lyon, Scouting Division, KPGFootball

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 Performer, Zander Simpson from Somerset, Kentucky’s Pulaski County High wouldn’t it? 

We want to begin with saying Pulaski County lost a tremendous player, and an even better young man, named Andrew Dodson, a couple weeks prior to this article’s publishing. Dodson was reportedly participating in a scrimmage when he was injured and taken to the hospital where he eventually passed.

Mingua Beef Jerky and Kentucky Prep Gridiron would like to extend to the Dodson family, the Pulaski High football program, and the High School itself our heartfelt prayers, well-wishes, and condolences. Andrew will live on in our memories, and in our hearts, and we are sure he is looking down from heaven, beaming with pride that one of his teammates, Zander Simpson, has won this prestigious award.

John Hines is one of Kentucky’s most accomplished and colorful head football coaches in the high school game today. He is a favorite around our magazine. He absolutely rocks a cowboy hat!

John has before expressed, “Football isn’t a sport for liars. It demands brutal honesty.”

Hines went on to say, “You can lie to us about your speed, strength, technique and how your grind is grindier than the grindiest grind that’s ever been grinded. Cool. No one cares.”

He goes on to relate that one never knows whether a kid is a football player until that kid steps across the white line. That is what we used to call the unvarnished truth, and also entirely true.

Hines has him a ’24 athlete who fits the bill of a player who plays football with integrity, with honesty, telling nothing but the truth; being nothing but the truth. His name is Zander Simpson.

Simpson played in 10-games for the Maroons in ’22, his junior year. He was credited with 51-tackles, one (1)-TFL, three (3)-FF’s, and a FR. Simpson led the team in INT’s (3) in addition to forced fumbles (FF’s).

That is quite a bit of production out of a player who missed two (2) games, is 5’8,” and weighs just 145-pounds. Simpson has put in some work getting his body prepared for battle.

Simpson has a registered bench press of 185-pounds (NCSA). Simpson has a registered 40-time of 4.8-seconds (NCSA).

With Simpson, what you see is what you get, plus a whole lot more. No sir, Simpson isn’t a liar; no, not at all. This kid is the truth!

We have awarded this to Simpson as we can’t fathom how any one student athlete could have taken the skills the Good Lord gave him and done anymore with it to help his team. On this basis, Mingua Beef Jerky and we decided this talented and accomplished ’24 athlete could use a bolt of protein and a sweet T-shirt. The company volunteered to send that to him, straight away.   

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 all the competition. Remember, our product is superior and one of a kind; just like Pulaski County’s, Zander Simpson.

This is Fletcher W. Long reporting for Kentucky Prep Gridiron reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE and don’t forget to SAVOR THE FLAVOR! 

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