WOODVILLE — Devin Voorhies received an honor to remember this month.

The Wilkinson County High School senior quarterback and safety had an extraordinary year for the Wildcats, throwing for 2,374 yards and 25 touchdowns on 138-of-221 passing this past season and leading the Wildcats (11-4) to the Class 3A state semifinals.

Voorhies also rushed for 2,027 yards and 15 touchdowns on 187 carries, averaging 10.8 yards per rush. On defense, he recorded 67 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble. He returned an interception and a fumble for touchdowns.

The result of his hard work and dedication was being named the Gatorade Mississippi Football Player of the Year.

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 Voorhies as Mississippi’s best high school football player. He has maintained an A average in the classroom and is a member of his school’s BETA Club and National Technical Honor Society.

And for the 6-foot-2, 197-pound LSU commit, this was the icing on the cake to a stellar high school career.

Voorhies is the first student-athlete to be chosen for the award from Wilkinson County High School, and Wildcats head coach Kenneth Brown said Voorhies more than deserved the honor.

“He had an outstanding season for us, and he did everything we asked him to do,” Brown said. “God blessed him with a lot of talent, and we were able to utilize his skills and have a successful season.

“He works hard and he won’t give up on anything or any play on offense or defense.”

Brown said the things that physically set Voorhies apart from most athletes are his size and strength matched with his finesse.

“His strength and his natural athletic ability to do some things with his feet is amazing,” he said.

Despite Voorhies achieving all that he did this season as a quarterback, Brown said when Voorhies first came to him as a freshman, he was not thought of for that position.

“When we first got him, he was playing lineman and when we wanted to be able to run with our offense so we had to put the best athletes in,” Brown said. “We saw his potential as quarterback and went from there. He got stronger as the year went by and he excelled at it.”

Voorhies will be able to show off his athleticism one more time on the high school level when he competes in the Alabama-Mississippi 27th Annual All-Star Game at noon today in Montgomery, Ala.

Though Voorhies will be playing amongst other all-stars with equal talent, Brown said he knows Voorhies will succeed.

“Whatever they ask him to do, he’s going to put his all into it to do it well,” Brown said. “With the passion that he has, I know that’s what he’ll do.”