West Virginia’s only coach-voted statewide awards! We, like many others, have wondered who the coaches themselves deem the best players considering they’re the ones scheming for, coaching against, watching film of, and seeing in-person. Thus, we put together as fair and accurate of a system as possible to get their opinion.
The Process
We want the selection process to be very open. First, we selected 12 coaches around the state. Three from each region: southwest, southeast, northwest, northeast. Of those, four are from each classification. This is to eliminate any regional or classification bias. Next, the coaches were allowed to nominate several players to be included on the ballot with a limit on how many of their own players they could put up.
Players receiving more than one nomination were included on the ballot. This provided 15-20 finalists for each award. The ballot was then created where it had every piece of information available to give the coaches the most accurate view possible. This included height, weight, year, team record, strength of schedule based on both class and relative to all classes, individual statistics, and links to the player’s film.
Finally, the coaches were given several weeks (post-Super Six) to review this information and make the best pick possible. They were asked to give their 1-8 rankings for each award. Players given a first place vote were awarded 8 points, second place was awarded 7 points, and so on. These would be tallied and a winner would be named. Due to committee size change, the totals were multiplied to reach continuity from last year’s votes.
So, without further ado, we are ready to announce the coaches’ 2020 selections:
Offensive Player of the Year
Finalists
222 votes – Gage Michael (QB) Fairmont Senior
108 votes – Keon Padmore-Johnson (QB) Spring Mills
102 votes – Hunter Patterson (RB) Oak Glen
102 votes – Ethan Payne (RB) Poca)
Lineman of the Year
Finalists
168 votes – Zeiqui Lawton (DL) South Charleston
144 votes – Bryce Biggs (OL) Spring Valley
129 votes – Devin Hill (OL) Bridgeport
117 votes – Ethan Northcraft (OL) Musselman
Defensive Player of the Year
Finalists
105 votes – Gage Michael (DB) Fairmont Senior
102 votes – Justin Rhinehart (LB) Musselman
102 votes – Dillon Taylor (LB) Poca
96 votes – Caden Biser (LB) Morgantown)
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