Tennessee signee TJ White is Gatorade Mississippi football Player of Year for 2025
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Jackson Academy linebacker TJ White has been named the Gatorade Mississippi Football Player of the Year for the 2025 season.
Gatorade announced its winners of all 50 states on Dec. 5, with White being the first football player to win the award from Jackson Academy.
"TJ has great physical traits; he is long, he is fast and he has the best three-step acceleration into a tackle that I’ve seen," Jackson Academy coach Dave Duggan said in a release. "He can rush the passer, he can drop into coverage and he can play man-to-man. Combine that with a high football IQ and all of those skills will translate at the next level.”
The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes White as Mississippi’s best high school football player.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound senior helped lead the Raiders to an 11-1 record this year and the MAIS 4A-Division I championship. White recorded 88 tackles, 22 for loss and 12 sacks. He will participate in the 2026 U.S. Navy All-American Bowl and was a 2025 Clarion Ledger Dandy Dozen selection.
White, a four-star recruit according to the 247Sports Composite, is the No. 4 player in Mississippi and No. 4 linebacker in the 2026 class. He has been committed to Tennessee football since July 1 and signed with the Vols on Dec. 3.
White joins recent Gatorade Mississippi Football winners Bralan Womack (2024, Hartfield Academy), Kahnen Daniels (2023, West Point), Isaac Smith (2022, Itawamba Agricultural) and D.J. Smith Jr. (2021, Greenville Christian).
Michael Chavez covers high school sports for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at mchavez@gannett.com or reach out to him on X, formerly Twitter @MikeSChavez.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: TJ White, Tennessee signee, is Mississippi football Player of Year
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