Frederick Douglass football player wins high school Hornung award for third straight year

For the fourth consecutive year, an athlete from Lexington has been named the winner of the Paul Hornung Award, presented annually by the Louisville Quarterback Club to the top high school football player in Kentucky.

Ty Bryant, a defensive back and running back from Frederick Douglass High School who has committed to play next year at the University of Kentucky, has been named the 2022 winner of the 30th annual Hornung Award, according to a report by Larry Vaught on Tuesday.

Bryant is the third consecutive winner from Frederick Douglass, joining Dane Key last year and Jager Burton in 2020. All three will be teammates next season at UK. In 2019, Lexington Catholic’s Beau Allen won the award. He, too, attended UK but transferred this fall to Tarleton State in Texas.

The Paul Hornung Award is one of four statewide player of the year awards. The others are the Gatorade Player of the Year, the Associated Press Mr. Football award and the Kentucky Football Coaches Association Mr. Football award.

The versatile Bryant has rushed 41 times for 352 yards and 10 touchdowns this season for the Broncos, who host Owensboro on Friday night in the semifinals of the Class 5A playoffs. Bryant has also returned three punts for touchdowns. Defensively, Bryant has recorded 17 tackles and three tackles for loss and forced a fumble and intercepted a pass.

Frederick Douglass (13-0) has allowed only 61 points this season, the fewest in the state in any class.

In a season in which Frederick Douglass has dominated most of its opposition, Bryant has not been called on for the type of heroics this season he’s had to display in previous years, but when the Broncos were pressed by Woodford County last week, the UK commit came up big.

Bryant rushed 16 times for 106 yards, including the go-ahead touchdown with 25 seconds to play in the third quarter of a 21-7 win.

“I told Coach (Mark) Stoops, he’s a DB but he can play running back, too,” said Broncos head coach Nate McPeek after the game. “He’s a man.”