CHICAGO (December 6, 2019) — In its 35th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced TreVeyon Henderson of Hopewell High School as its 2019-20 Gatorade Virginia Football Player of the Year. Henderson is the first Gatorade Virginia Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Hopewell High School.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Henderson as Virginia’s best high school football player.

Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award to be announced in December, Henderson joins an elite group of past state football award-winners, including Emmitt Smith (1986-87, Escambia High School, Fla.), Matthew Stafford (2005-06 Highland Park High School, Texas) and Christian McCaffrey (2012-13, 2013-14, Valor Christian High School, Colo.).

At the time of his selection, the 5-foot-11, 192-pound junior running back and defensive back had led the Blue Devils to a 13-0 record and a berth in the Class 3A semifinals. Henderson rushed for 1,989 yards and 39 touchdowns on 157 carries through 13 games, averaging 12.7 yards per carry. He also caught 15 passes for 251 yards and four touchdowns, and averaged 40.0 yards per kickoff return. Henderson was a First Team All-State and All-Metro selection as a sophomore.

A devoted member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Henderson has served as an elementary school mentor.

“TreVeyon Henderson is a special talent,” said Bruce Carroll, Head Coach at Prince George High School. “He has great speed, vision and balance, just an elite football player. In my 24 years of coaching, he’s the single biggest difference-maker that I’ve seen.”

Henderson has maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom. He will begin his senior year of high school next fall.

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 and field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.

From the 12 national winners, one male and one female athlete are each named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year. In all, 607 athletes are honored each year.

Henderson joins recent Gatorade Virginia Football Players of the Year Brandon Smith (2018-19, Louisa County High School), Ricky Slade (2017-18, C.D. Hylton High School), Lamont Atkins (2016-17, Lake Braddock High School), Wayne Davis (2015-16, Lake Taylor High School) and Noah Reimers (2014-15, Tuscarora High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Henderson has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.

Since the program’s inception in 1985, Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients have won hundreds of professional and college championships, and many have also turned into pillars in their communities, becoming coaches, business owners and educators.

*** To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit www.Gatorade.com/POY, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GatoradePOY or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Gatorade. ***