NewsOK.com Player of the Year candidate Kentrell Brothers, Guthrie...
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Kentrell Brothers, Guthrie
Class: Senior
Team record: 11-2 (5A semifinals)
Stats: 63 catches for 1,304 yards and 18 touchdowns. 18 carries for 171 yards, TD. One touchdown pass. 100 tackles and 19 sacks.
The case: Watch him just one time and try to tell me Brothers is not the best player in the state. I dare ya. If you’ve never seen Brothers, you knew who he was within five minutes of watching him play.
It’s always interesting to hear what The Tulsa World says about the kids they normally don’t get to see. I got to watch the Booker T. and Guthrie game with Matt Baker. In what was arguably Brothers’ worst game of the season, Baker still came away totally impressed.
Imagine if Baker had seen Brothers against Duncan? You know, where he caught three touchdowns and had five sacks. Or what about Carl Albert? An epic outing of seven catches for 150 yards and four touchdowns and eight tackles. Coweta wasn’t too bad. You remember that game, don’t ya? Two receiving touchdowns, one rushing score and even a touchdown pass.
Brothers dominated in every game he was in that coach Rafe Watkins simply wasn’t impressed anymore. He just knew what to expect. Watkins wasn’t alone as your jaw may have dropped for one of those games. But if you’d seen more just like it, eh, you didn’t flinch because you knew you were watching the best player in the state.
He was a two-way starter for three years, nearly unheard of at such a high-level program like Guthrie. Watkins said in Brothers’ all-state nomination form that Brothers is the best football player in the state. You know what? Watkins isn’t wrong on that one.
Brothers had the ability to snag the jump ball on passes by Bryan Dutton. He wasn’t afraid to go over the middle to make the big first down catches. And on defense, well, it was feeding time for the Bluejays defense with Brothers leading the charge and making life miserable for opposing offenses.
