Vote: Who Is the North Carolina High School Football Player of the Week? - Sept. 16, 2025

Here are 15 nominees for your voting consideration

Service Call: Trinity QB was among top Week 1 performers / SBLive Sports

The 2025 North Carolina high school football season is now four weeks old and elite performances keep coming. We tracking all the action and have provided the following list, for your voting consideration, for North Carolina High School Football Player of the Week.

---

Congratulations to last week's winner: Gavin Stokes of Jack Britt.

---

Here are this week's nominees. Voting ends Sept. 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

James Bailey, East Mecklenburg

What didn’t this guy do? Bailey intercepted three passes, one of which he returned for a touchdown, and caught two touchdown passes, including the game-winner in his team’s 20-16 win over North Mecklenburg. That’s not all. Bailey had 6 carries as a running back, caught 5 passes and completed a pair of passes at quarterback.

D.J. Douglas, Charlotte Latin

Douglas caught 13 passes for 203 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 42-13 victory over Metrolina Christian.

Grant Lawless, East Lincoln

The Mustangs’ quarterback, who is a Wake Forest commit, was spectacular, completing 17-of-26 passes for 408 yards and 6 touchdowns in a 56-34 win over Bandys. 

R.J. Lynch, Lincolnton

Here’s another all-around performance. Lynch intercepted two passes and made three tackles on defense. On offense, he threw a 72-yard touchdown pass, ran 9 times for 100 yards and caught 3 passes for 34 yards.

Ryder Polston, Ballantyne Ridge

The sophomore quarterback made history by leading Ballantyne Ridge to its first-ever victory. Polston was 10-of-16 for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns while also running for a pair of touchdowns.

Tay Williams, Asheville

Williams was 11-of-15 for 199 yards and 5 touchdowns in his team’s 39-21 victory over Asheville School.

Yoshua McBryde, St. Pauls

McBryde keeps showing on the list and it’s easy to see how. The St. Pauls running back had over 300 yards and 5 touchdowns as the Bulldogs held off North Brunswick 35-33.

J.J. Gulat, Dixon

Gulat put together another great performance, running 31 times for 246 yards and a touchdown while also throwing a 45-yard touchdown pass in the Bulldogs’ 42-20 win over Southwest Onslow.

Kannon McBride, Croatan

The Cougars’ quarterback was 12-of-15 for 220 yards and a touchdown. He also had a rushing touchdown and kicked a 24-yard field goal.

Jamie Dance, Currituck County

Dance threw for 205 yards and ran for 60 more in a 49-7 victory over Camden.

Gannon Jones, Cardinal Gibbons

The Crusaders’ quarterback was 10-of-12 for 73 yards, ran 16 times for 89 yards and a touchdown and punted once for 40 yards as his team prevailed 30-22 over Southeast Raleigh in a battle of Triangle powerhouses.

Jayden Daniels, South Brunswick

Daniels was 15-of-17 for 313 yards and 3 touchdowns while adding a rushing touchdown in the Cougars’ 28-7 win over Richlands.

Kadorien Wallace, Laney

Wallace returned an interception 49 yards for a touchdown, recovered a fumble and made a pair of tackles in the Buccaneers’ 31-15 win over South Central.

Zak Ishman, Northeastern

Ishman was 19-of-33 for 260 yards and two touchdowns with an interception in the Eagles’ 41-32 win over Wilson Prep. He also had three rushing touchdowns.

Jamouri Nichols, West Charlotte

Nichols was 15-of-25 for 314 yards and 3 touchdowns while running for 45 yards and a touchdown on 8 carries in a 42-7 win over Providence.

About Our Athlete of the Week Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals.Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports.Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.