CHICAGO (December 5, 2025) — In its 41st year celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Tyler Atkinson of Grayson High School is the 2025-26 Gatorade Georgia Football Player of the Year.
Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their excellence in sport, academics and community. The award recognizes Atkinson as Georgia’s best high school football player, and he’s also been selected as a finalist for the distinguished Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award to be announced in December. Atkinson joins an elite legacy that spans professional athletes and coaches to CEOs, such as Peyton Manning (1993-94, Isidore Newman School, LA), Nick Singleton (2021-22, Governor Mifflin High School, PA) and Keelon Russell (2024-25, Duncanville High School, TX).
The 6-foot-3, 221-pound senior linebacker recorded 96 tackles this past season, including 26 for loss, along with nine sacks and 22 quarterback hurries, leading the Rams (12-1) to the Class 7A state quarterfinals. A 2025 Navy All-American Bowl invitee, he’s ranked as the nation’s No. 14 recruit in the Class of 2026 by ESPN.com.
Atkinson has volunteered locally as the host of youth football clinics in conjunction with the National Concussion Institute and Northside Hospital. He has also donated his time as an usher and youth mentor at his church. “Tyler is a generational type of player,” said Dante Williams, head coach of Archer High School. “I was the offensive coordinator at Collins Hill from 2019-2021 and lucky enough to coach Travis Hunter, so I think I have an idea of what generational talent looks like. Tyler is it.”
Atkinson has maintained a weighted 3.48 GPA in the classroom. At the time of his selection, he had made a verbal commitment to receive athletic aid to play football at the University of Texas next fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one state winner from each of the 50 states and Washington D.C., in 12 different sports: football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, and boys and girls track & field. In total, 610 high school athletes are honored each year. From the pool of state winners, one national winner is selected in each of the 12 sports. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the winners in each sport.
As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $6.4 million in grants to winners across more than 2,200 organizations. To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade, Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY and X(Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.
