Collins named Gatorade Player of the Year

Atlanta Rabbit turned Kentucky Wildcat Daimion Collins has been named the Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Texas.

The 6-foot-10, 5-star basketball player averaged 35.2 points, 14.4 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 6.2 blocks per game for the Rabbs during his senior year.

Collins finished his senior season as a consensus top-15 prospect in the class of 2021 and was ranked as the No. 1 player coming out of Texas and No. 3 power forward in the country, according to 247 Sports.

He can add the Gatorade POY accolade to many more he’s earned including being selected to play in the Hoops for Autism game, being named to the McDonald’s All-American team, tabbed MaxPreps’ Texas Player of the Year and was named a Naismith Third Team All-American.

He was also named to rosters in both the Iverson Classic and the Jordan Brand Classic.

Here is what Gatorade had to say about Collins’ award win: A member of the 4-H Club, Collins has volunteered locally with Driven to Change, a non-profit organization that mentors children on leadership, academic and career development.

Collins has maintained a weighted 3.88 GPA in the classroom and through Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Collins has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of their choosing.

Collins is also eligible to submit a 30-second video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $2.7 million across 1,117 organizations.