By Drew Dargavell, WKTV Sports Intern
ken@wktv.org
This past football season lead to four local high school players earning the title of first team AP All-State in the state of Michigan. East Kentwood, somewhat unsurprisingly, lead the way with three of those All-Staters coming from their team after a tremendous season from the Division 1-2 Falcons finishing the season 9-2.
These players include senior running back Kionte Blakely, senior offensive tackle Logan Brown, and senior defensive tackle Mazi Smith.
The fourth local first team AP All-State comes from Division 3-4 South Christian: senior offensive tackle Spencer Holstege.
Of the four players named, three have earned scholarships to play for Big Ten teams.
Brown, the 6-foot-5, 285-pound offensive tackle from East Kentwood has committed to play football at the University of Wisconsin next season. Brown started to impress recruiters his Junior season with his size and athleticism as he is rated as a four star recruit and the top overall recruit in the state of Michigan according to ESPN’s recruiting database and is number 28 overall in the nation. ESPN also has him listed as the 7th best player at his position in the country. According to ESPN, Brown is listed as the top-overall recruit for the University of Wisconsin. Brown was featured in the 2019 All-American Bowl on Jan. 6, which gathered some of the top high school talent around the nation to compete in an exhibition.
Another top recruit ranked in ESPN’s Top 300 is the 6-foot-3, 320-pound defensive tackle Mazi Smith from East Kentwood. Smith was a key part of East Kentwood’s success this season. According to ESPN Smith is ranked as the 38th best recruit in the country and number three overall in the state. Smith will be staying in state and has committed to University of Michigan. ESPN has Smith ranked as number two at his position in the nation and is U of M’s second highest recruit. Smith was also featured in the 2019 Under Armor All-American football game on Jan. 3, which is similar to the All-American Bowl, and which gathers some of the best high school players in the country for an exhibition.
The third All-State from East Kentwood is their work-horse, 5-foot-6, running back Kionte Blakely. Blakely was the Falcons main weapon on offense as he rushed for 1,698 yards and 28 touchdowns. He finished first place in M-Live’s online poll for Grand Rapids Press Player of the Year (local area’s best player), garnering over 63,000 votes out of 145,516 total votes.
Last but not least is the senior offensive tackle from South Christian, Spencer Holstege.
Holstege has committed to play football at Purdue University next season. According to ESPN, Holstege is rated as the number 25 recruit in the state of Michigan. Holstege was the key player for the South Christian team as he played both the offensive and defensive lines as needed.
Other local players who gained honorable mention on the AP All-State teams were senior linebacker Rusheon Bash, for Division 1-2 Wyoming; senior receiver Peyton Vis, for Grand Rapids South Christian; and senior lineman Marshawn Kneeland, for Division 3-4 Wyoming Godwin Heights.
From the 8-man football division, Wyoming Tri-unity placed two senior players, Benson Heath and Brayden Ophoff, on the All-State team. Heath rushed for 993 yards and 12 touchdowns during the regular season and added 710 yards and five scores as a receiver. He had 31 tackles for loss and three interceptions on defense. Ophoff played in the defensive secondary and totaled 82 tackles and three interceptions during the regular season. At quarterback, he was 51 of 72 passing for 1,666 yards and 22 TDs and added 1,070 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.
For a complete list of AP All-State Players see apnews.com .
Did we miss anybody? Contact WKTV at ken@wktv.org .
