CHICAGO — Kellen Harrison of Bozeman High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade Montana Football Player of the Year, the sports energy drink company announced Wednesday.
Harrison is the player to be chosen from Bozeman High.
The award celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Harrison as Montana’s best high school football player.
The 6-foot, 160-pound senior quarterback and free safety passed for 2,874 yards this past season, completing 67.9 percent of his throws for 10.7 yards per attempt and 25 touchdowns to lead the Hawks (12-0) to their fifth Class AA state title since 2010. Harrison led all players with 85 yards rushing and 245 passing along with five touchdowns in a 35-27, title game win over Kalispell Glacier. For the season, he added 329 yards rushing at 4.6 yards per attempt, along with seven scores on the ground.
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Harrison has donated his time locally in association with the National Honor Society in addition to volunteering as a youth sports camp instructor, a youth football official and a Little League umpire.
“I just watched Kellen Harrison throw for four touchdowns, run for another and make an interception leading his team over mine in an unbelievable championship game,” Glacier coach Grady Bennett said. “He is such a gamer and in leading his team to an undefeated season and state championship, he never left the field. My vote is: He has to be the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year. With the talent assembled on that field in the title game and the way he stood out, the difference he made in the game, to me it’s very clear.”
Harrison has maintained a 3.92 grade-point average. He remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.
Harrison joins recent Gatorade Montana Football Players of the Year Talon Marsh (2022-23, Helena Capital), Taco Dowler (2021-22, Billings West, Dylan Rollins (2020-21,Missoula Sentinel), and Tommy Mellott (2019-20, Butte).