The Eagle’s 55th annual Top 11 football team
Amani Bledsoe
Lawrence OL-DL
Senior
Coach Dirk Wedd: “He’s got the best feet I’ve ever seen. He’s probably right there with Jumpy Geathers, who played at Wichita State and about 15 years in the NFL. He reminds me a lot of him because of his unbelievable speed and quickness coming off the ball. On defense, wherever you put him, they’ll check away. He’s the type of player on defense that you have to know where he’s at all the time.”
Dawson Downing
Bishop Miege RB
Senior
Coach Jon Holmes: “The best thing is, he never goes down on the first contact. He gets a lot of his yards after contact. There were a lot of plays this year where it wasn’t blocked right or there was an extra guy in the box, but all it took is him just making one guy miss. He was able to do that a lot. He also keeps his legs driving. He was never knocked back when he was tackled.”
Tucker Horak
Rossville QB-DB
Senior
Coach Derick Hammes: “He’s going to do something you’ve never seen before. Whether it’s with extra effort or with an incredible run, it’s always the unexpected. We get to see it every day. He’d have over 1,000 (rushing) yards if it was a touch football game because he has the ability to make the first person miss, and oftentimes, it’s two or three people. Then just when you think he’ll make a move on you, he’ll lower his shoulder.”
Christian Jegen
Mill Valley WR-DB
Senior
Coach Joel Applebee: “What’s amazing is he never takes a direct blow. He understands space. He has great vision. Honestly, he’s got it all. His ability to get into open space or fit through a space quickly or the vision to see the field to make the cut, it’s all there.”
Noah Johnson
Bishop Carroll OL
Senior
Coach Alan Schuckman: “He’s a kid that you can sit there and focus on the film and watch him. He’s that fun to watch. He plays so hard. On Saturday (in the title game), he’s engaged with a defensive lineman, driving him three yards down the field. We threw the ball and got an illegal man downfield call. He’s going to own you. I’ve coached a lot of kids, and his mentality is different.”
Kaelin Key
Bishop Miege DL
Senior
Coach Jon Holmes: “He’s one of those guys you felt at times didn’t get the attention he deserved. He set out to prove he’s one of the best players in the state. He was a dominant force up front.. He didn’t make all the plays, but he created a lot of attention so our linebackers made plays. I think it starts with his strength; he’s a strong player. It goes into technique; a lot of the college guys have talked about how active his hands and feet are for a guy his size. He can make plays at the line of scrimmage and in the backfield.”
Jace McDown
Columbus RB-LB
Senior
Coach Daniel Grundy: “It’s his eternal goal-setting and how driven he is. I’ve never seen a kid who is so driven. When he chooses to do something, he’s all in. One hundred percent. For example with his powerlifting — he tries to get all the kids over to come over and life. When we have off days, he’s lifting. And he was motivated by last year’s score in the (4A-II) championship game. We lost 49-6. He had a reminder on his phone every day with that score. It motivated him.”
Darraja Parnell
Andover Central WR-DB
Senior
Coach Tom Audley: “He’s been an impact player for the past two years. The little things, though, he didn’t get any credit for being a great blocker. With his long arms, people can’t get off him. He did that throughout the year. He’s very athletic and he has a drive. He wants to be good. What he’s doing is amazing; that after taking two years off from football, that he figured out his skill set so quickly. If he wants to play college football, I’d say there’s a lot of potential that hasn’t come out yet.”
Ian Rudzik
Ulysses RB-LB
Senior
Coach Jason Kenny: “Very seldom do you have a kid with that size and that speed, and he has the great instincts to go along with it. It’s his passion for the game, too. He surprises me every practice and every game. You don’t see kids doing what he does. He can make full speed cuts, run around someone, run over someone and run by someone.”
Brady Rust
Derby QB
Senior
Coach Brandon Clark: “He has all the things you can’t coach up. He’s mentally strong, and having a year underneath his belt helped out tremendously. He’s a born leader. He’s quick, he’s smart. A lot of times even I would say, ‘Run, run!’ and he was just waiting for stuff to set up. His mental makeup was second to none.”
Bryce Torneden
Free State QB-DB
Senior
Coach Bob Lisher: “He’s so deceptive. He’s got that wiggle and the speed to go with it. Once he’d make you miss, he could outrun you. I made him run out of bounds, but he didn’t want to run out of bounds. He wanted to run over you. For his size, he packed a wallop.”
Coach Brandon Clark
Derby
Quarterback Brady Rust: “He’s so devoted to it, he loves it, he’s so passionate about football. He’s going to do everything it takes to make us better football players and better young men. He doesn’t give half effort. Since he loves it, he’s going to pour everything into it.
“He’s helped me improve my four years. I used to not be able to throw the ball very well. He saw potential, and he didn’t give up on me. He can do it to everybody. Everyone sees that he yells a lot, but he’s not yelling because he doesn’t care. He cares a lot about all of us.”
Top 11 selection process
Top 11 and All-Class football teams are selected by The Wichita Eagle with the help of coaches across Kansas.
Every coach in the state is sent an online ballot to return to The Eagle by the end of the season. Coaches may nominate their own players and players from other teams. They also are asked to supply statistics and comment on players they nominate.
The teams were selected by Joanna Chadwick and Taylor Eldridge. They tabulated nominations from the ballots and received additional input from coaches and other media members.
Top 11 teams are selected regardless of position, while All-Class teams are selected by position.
This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 12:49 PM.