Cooper Flagg, Sadie Engelhardt Named Gatorade Easiest Gamers of the Year at ESPY Awards

Cooper Flagg and Sadie Engelhardt unquestionably like their eyes internet site on becoming future stars within the ACC, however they had been first honored for being the most attention-grabbing excessive college athletes within the country.

Flagg and Engelhardt had been named the 2023-24 Gatorade Easiest Male and Easiest Female Gamers of the Year all thru Thursday’s ESPYs. They had been offered the admire continue to exist stage by inclined Gatorade Easiest Female Gamers of the Year Candace Parker and Paige Bueckers.

Parker, Bueckers, Jayson Tatum, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Karl-Anthony Towns are only one of the most crucial notable names who like won the coveted award within the past.

These are all household names, and Flagg would possibly per chance per chance per chance per chance be smartly on his methodology to becoming one as smartly.

He modified into the No. 1 overall men’s basketball recruit within the class of 2024, per 247Sports’ composite rankings, and led his Montverde Eagles to a 34-0 fable and the Chipotle Nationals title. He’s additionally no stranger to being awarded by Gatorade, as he additionally took dwelling the 2021-22 Gatorade Maine Participant of the Year.

The McDonald’s All-American and 2024 Naismith Award Nationwide Excessive Faculty Participant of the Year is heading to Duke for the upcoming season as fraction of a loaded class that modified into easiest within the country in 247Sports’ composite rankings.

Flagg averaged 16.5 aspects, 7.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 2.7 blocks and 1.6 steals per game while shooting 55.1 percent from the sphere this past season as any individual who can impression the game in a various of ways.

And his game is predicted to translate to the college stage and past, as Bleacher Portray’s Jonathan Wasserman already listed Flagg as the No. 1 overall player on his 2025 NBA draft massive board earlier than the ahead has even played a single game for the Blue Devils.

“The 2024 draft cycle didn’t like an glaring No. 1 prospect,” Wasserman wrote. “2025’s will. Cooper Flagg has developed into one of many most hyped possibilities of the decade with a skill stage that’s initiating to remove his special athleticism, passing IQ and defensive instincts.”

Flagg would possibly per chance per chance per chance well stop up being ACC opponents with Engelhardt, who’s verbally committed to be a part of NC Grunt’s music and field team starting within the autumn of 2025.

Engelhardt modified into identified Thursday after a shimmering particular particular person season that seen her stay as the national leader in four events and internet site the national excessive college fable within the mile at the HOKA Festival of Miles with a blistering time of 4: 28.46 seconds.

She additionally competed at an elite stage in opposition to mavens all thru the Portland Music Festival and posted a time of 4: 08.86 within the 1500-meter elope. It modified into the fifth-easiest time in U.S. ladies prep historic past and modified into passable to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

As if that wasn’t passable, the three-time Gatorade Ladies Music & Area Participant of the Year in California broke the state’s fable with a time of 4: 32.06 within the 1600 and posted the most attention-grabbing time for a prep girl within the nation for 2024 with a 2: 03.46 within the 800 all thru the Azusa Pacific Meet of Champions.

The fable-atmosphere Engelhardt and the aptitude No. 1 remove of the 2025 NBA draft in Flagg had been dominant all thru the past excessive college season and had been identified accordingly Thursday.