Ricky Slade, Hylton HS running back, named Gatorade’s Va. Football Player of the Year

In its 33rd year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company has named Ricky Slade of C.D. Hylton High School in Prince William County Public Schools as its 2017-18 Gatorade Virginia Football Player of the Year.

Slade is the first Gatorade Virginia Football Player of the Year to be chosen from C.D. Hylton High School.

The award recognizes outstanding athletic excellence and high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field. It distinguishes Slade as Virginia’s best high school football player. N

He is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award to be announced later this month.

Slade joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners in 12 sports.

The 5-foot-9, 185-pound senior running back rushed for 1,978 yards and 30 touchdowns on 179 carries this past season, leading the Bulldogs to a 9-4 record and the Class 6A quarterfinals.

Slade also caught 22 passes for 283 yards and five touchdowns. He is an All-State and Washington Post All-Met honoree and has been selected to play in the 2018 Under Armour All-America Game. He is ranked as the nation’s No. 18 recruit in the Class of 2018 by ESPN.

Slade has volunteered as a peer mentor in his school. “Slade is a great competitor with a great motor,” said Daniel Bruton, head coach at Forest Park High, who was quoted in a news release.  “He’s a real playmaker with the ball in his hands—he can make all 11 defenders miss. He’s strong and he’s one of the fastest players on the field wherever he goes. He’s really fun to watch, but not as much fun to coach against.”

Slade has maintained a B average in the classroom. He has verbally committed to play football on scholarship at Penn State University in the fall of 2018.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.

Slade joins is the first football player from a Prince William County high school to be named a Gatorade Virginia Football Player of the Year since 2011-12.

As a Gatorade Player of the Year, Slade will be able to select a national or local youth sports organization to receive a grant as part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program, according to the news release.

Every Gatorade Player of the Year state winner receives a $1,000 grant to donate and can enter for an additional $10,000 spotlight grant by writing a brief essay explaining why his selected organization deserves additional support. 12 spotlight grants – one for each sport – will be announced throughout the year.