2018 GACfootball.com Player of the Year, Collin Sutton

 

This year’s Player of the Year award goes to QB Collin Sutton of the Winfield Warriors.  When considering athletes for this year’s award, there were many outstanding candidates. Some names on the short list were Aidan McDaniel (QB, Francis Howell), Cole Mueller (RB, Holt), Ben Watson (QB, Fort Zumwalt East), and Jaylin Vaughn (LB, Fort Zumwalt North).  We were looking for a player that not only was a standout, and very talented, but also a player that had the overall greatest contribution to the success of his team. A player that separated himself from even the most talented football players in the entire 17 team GAC “Super Conference”.

 

The Short List

Cole Mueller had an outstanding year rushing the ball for Holt.  Mueller pounded out 2,448 yards, 31 TDs and averaged a mind blowing 10.3 yards per carry.  Just think about that. A first down, on average, every time Mueller carries the rock. Aidan McDaniel set off air raid sirens every Friday night.  McDaniel threw for 2,678 yards, that’s a 243 yards per game average. McDaniel also claims the title of most prolific TD passer in the GAC Super Conference, with 32 TDs, only 9 INTs, and a college scout eye grabbing 115.06 passer rating. Second place on the TD top ten in the GAC Super Conference, Connor Jones (Orchard Farm), an outstanding talent in his own right, had 20 TDs.  McDaniel had 60% more passing TDs than the 2nd place QB. And remember, this is considering all 17 teams in the GAC. Ben Watson. Big Ben has been racking up yards on the ground and in the air for the past several years. Watson’s 1,632 passing yards and his 1,397 rushing yards were an overwhelmingly significant portion of the Lions’ offense. Finally, Jaylin “Big Jay” Vaughn. A dominating force on both sides of the ball, Vaughn earned GAC Central defensive player of the year, and also averaged 10 yards per carry as a running back. Offenses were right to keep the ball away from Vaughn when he was at middle linebacker, because every time he either picked up a fumble or intercepted a pass, he returned it for a TD (2 “scoop ‘n’ scores”, 2 pick-sixes.)

 

Mueller...McDaniel...Watson...Vaughn…all great names, all great talents.   All worthy of possibly being Player of the Year.

 

Which brings us to talent powerhouse Collin Sutton.

 

Collin is one of 4 Sutton children in Winfield, Missouri.  Collin, who grew up playing youth football for the St. Charles Titans, is a jack of all trades, and a master of them all.  Sutton is a stacked and packed 6’2”, 195 lbs and boasts a 40yd dash time of 4.45, confirmed by Warriors’ head football coach Keith McGlasson.  When not playing football, Collin plays center on the Warriors’ basketball team and outfield during baseball season. As a sophomore baseball player, Collin won the GAC North player of the year.

 

On the football field Collin has some outstanding numbers.  He was in the top 10 of all three major categories; #6 in passing, #2 in rushing, and #2 in scoring. When we say “top 10”, remember, we are talking about players from all 17 GAC football teams.  This is roughly 850 football players across St. Charles County, Warren, and Lincoln Counties. Collin averaged 120 yards passing and 194 yards rushing, per game. Collin Sutton’s total offensive production each game was an amazing 314 yards!  Again...that’s 314 yards of offensive production…..per…...game. Collin was #2 in scoring behind the behemoth Cole Mueller; Mueller having 34 TDs, and Sutton with 31 TDs. Collin’s rushing average was nearly impressive as Mueller’s, with a 9.6 yards per carry.  Witnessing Collin run the ball is like watching a deer jump and run through tall grass. His cuts, his moves, freezing his opponents with spins, cutting on a dime, he’s got it all. His instinctive ability to avoid tackles is one of the keys to his success. Collin’s job didn’t end with playing QB. He played solidly on defense getting 24 tackles, 1 INT, and 1 fumble recovery.  And get this, he was also the Warriors’ punter. He had 30 punts averaging nearly 40 yards per punt, which earned him 2nd team punter for the GAC North. And lastly, Collin led Winfield to their best record in school history at 7-4. One of Collin’s best performances of the year was a home game against Orchard Farm. Collin passed for 170 yards, rushed for 221 yards and 4 rushing TDs and a passing TD.  That night Collin also led his team in tackles with 9 and had a fumble recovery. The Warriors scratched out a close 44-42 win.

 

Let’s look at personal involvement of a player’s contribution to his team’s offensive production.  Collin’s passing yards and rushing yards are a total of 3,469 of the team’s 4,309 yards of offensive production, which is 80.5% of Winfield’s total.  What this means is that Collin was directly involved in 80% of Winfield’s offensive gains. Compare that to Cole Mueller, who had total rushing and receiving offensive production of 2,618 of Holt’s 3,807 yards, or 68.7%.  Howell’s Aidan McDaniel, the league’s most prolific passer, was more one dimensional and lacked the rushing numbers to compare to Collin Sutton or Ben Watson. Aidan’s personal touch was 2,877 of Howell’s 4,088 yards, or 70.3%.  Ben Watson’s personal touch on the Fort Zumwalt East Lions was a very impressive 77.9%, he was personally involved in 3,037 yards of the Lions 3,896 yards.

 

No matter how you crunch the numbers, Collin Sutton’s 2018 football season with the Winfield Warriors will go down as one of the best single season efforts in all of GAC football history.