NC high school football’s top player: Providence Day’s Jadyn Davis is 2022 Mr. Football

Providence Day junior Jadyn Davis is Mr. Football in North Carolina for the 2022 season.

The state’s top high school football award, Mr. Football recognizes Davis as the state’s best player.

A 6-foot, 185-pound quarterback, Davis threw for 3,425 yards and 43 touchdowns this season against just six interceptions. He led Providence Day to a 12-1 record and back-to-back NCISAA Division I state championships, a school first.

In a 55-13 win over Charlotte Christian in the state championship game — in which the Chargers avenged a regular-season loss — Davis threw for 352 yards and six touchdowns.

Davis was one of three finalists for the award this year.

Millbrook High School (Raleigh) junior quarterback Mason Fortune threw for 4,063 yards and 38 touchdowns, leading his team to the N.C. 4A Eastern Regional championship game; and East Forsyth (Kernersville) senior quarterback Jaylen Alexander-Raynor, who is committed to Arkansas State, threw for 2,944 yards and 40 touchdowns. Raynor also ran 145 times for 1,259 yards and 17 touchdowns.

A panel of Charlotte Observer sportswriters and members of the Talking Preps streaming TV show that runs on The Observer and News & Observer websites and social media platforms made the selections. A key part of the criteria was looking at how each of the finalists performed in their toughest five games.

In an otherwise tight race, Davis nudged ahead in that metric.

An example was when Providence Day beat Weddington 52-32 in the regular season. Weddington went on to to reach the N.C. 4A Western Regional championship game, before losing 28-27 to Greensboro’s Grimsely High.

Davis threw for 351 yards and five touchdowns in the Weddington game, and ran for another. Davis is ranked as the nation’s No. 15 overall player in the class of 2024 by 247 Sports and the No. 2 quarterback prospect.

He is the highest ranked recruit in the Carolinas in his class.

“Oh man,” Weddington coach Andy Capone said, “he’s incredibly talented, and he can make every throw you ask him to make. He’s not the biggest guy but he’s tough as nails, and he’ll stand in there and take a shot. I was incredibly impressed with him. He makes (Providence Day) go and you can see why he’s so highly recruited and highly ranked as a national prospect.”