Vote: Who is the South Carolina High School Football Player of the Week? Sept. 8, 2025

We have nominated 15 candidates for your voting consideration to help us determine the SC high school football player of the week

Mike Duprez | Sep 8, 2025

SBLive Sports

The 2025 South Carolina high school season is now three weeks old and elite performances keep coming. It's time for you to help us select this week's South Carolina High School Football Player of the Week.

Congratulations to last week's winner: Jaleel Tate of Gaffney.

Voting concludes Sept. 8 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Here are the nominees:

Hunter O’Neal, Keenan

It doesn’t get any better than this. O’Neal ran for a school-record 426 yards along with 5 touchdowns on 34 carries in the Raiders’ 34-27 win over Battery Creek.

Noah Thomas, Belton-Honea Path

Thomas was 14-of-21 for 201 yards and a touchdown. The Bears’ quarterback also had 69 yards and a touchdown rushing on 9 carries.

Jadyn Rice, Greenville

Rice caught 9 passes for 74 yards, including the game-winning touchdown with 23 seconds remaining in the Red Raiders’ 17-14 win over Gaffney.

Nydarrian Allen, Hillcrest

Allen ran for 199 yards and a pair of touchdowns on just 10 carries in Hillcrest’s 55-16 victory over Greer.

Jaylon Watson, T.L. Hanna

Watson showed off his versatility by scoring a rushing touchdown, returning a punt 60 yards for a touchdown and grabbing an interception.

Jayvin Risher, Hilton Head Island

Risher had two touchdown runs, caught a touchdown pass and had a 55-yard interception return.

Aedan McCarthy, May River

McCarthy threw for over 300 yards and 4 touchdowns in the Bobcats’ 33-20 win over Savannah Country Day.

J’Zavien Currence, South Pointe

The South Carolina commit returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown in the Stallions’ 10-7 overtime win over West Charlotte. Currence also ran three quarterback draws to set up the game-winning field goal.

Jaxon Knotts, Dutch Fork

The Silver Foxes’ quarterback was 17-of-23 for 295 yards and 3 touchdowns. On the ground, Knotts had the game-winning 25-yard touchdown run as Dutch Fork beat Ridge View 28-21 for its 24th consecutive win.

Jaiden Bryant, Irmo

Bryant tallied two defensive touchdowns on an interception and fumble recovery to go along with three sacks in the Yellow Jackets’ 42-14 win over Butler (N.C.).

Kenton Caldwell, Newberry

The Bulldogs’ quarterback ran for 206 yards and 4 touchdowns while completing 19-of-26 passes for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 41-12 romp over Clinton.

Franklin Richardson, Sumter

The Gamecocks’ quarterback had four rushing touchdowns in a 63-27 victory over Myrtle Beach.

Kason Canupp, Nation Ford

Canupp was 25-of-38 for 306 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown pass with 43 seconds left to lift his team to a 20-17 win over River Bluff.

E.J. Richardson, Lugoff-Elgin

Richardson had a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown and returned a kickoff for a touchdown in a 45-21win over Darlington.

Aiden Manavian, Oceanside Collegiate

Manavian was 21-of-24 for 294 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Landsharks downed Savannah Christian 42-21 for their first win of the season.

Published Sep 8, 2025

MIKE DUPREZ

Mike Duprez became a freelance sports journalist for Scorebooklive.com several months after retiring from the newspaper business. A native of Oakland, California, Duprez moved around as a child due to his father’s service in the United States Marine Corps. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1981. Duprez, who lives in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, had 30 years of experience in newspapers as well as other endeavors before retiring at the end of 2021. He covers stories in both North Carolina and South Carolina for Scorebooklive.com.