Jack Heaps of Mountain Brook has been named the 2021-22 Gatorade Alabama Boys Soccer Player of the Year. The junior midfielder scored 33 goals and had 5 assists to help the Class 6A state champions to a 25-2-2 record.
Heaps was a first team Super All-State pick and first team All-Metro selection. The 5-foot-9, 140-pounder was also a United Soccer Coaches All-Region choice.
Heaps is the third Gatorade Alabama Boys Soccer Player of the Year from Mountain Brook High School, according to the Gatorade press release.
The award recognizes outstanding athletic excellence and high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field. Heap, recognized as Alabama’s best high school boys soccer player, is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award to be announced later this month.
Gatorade’s awards program, which recognizes state award-winners in 12 sports, is in its 37th year.
Heaps is a member of the National Honor Society, the Spanish Honor Society and the Mu Alpha Theta math honor society. He has volunteered on behalf of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.
“Jack Heaps is a very lethal attacking midfielder,” said Julian Kersh, head coach at Homewood High. “He doesn’t look physically imposing, but he’s extremely athletic and his vertical lets him get headers over taller players. His left-footed strike is just as powerful as his right, and he’s not afraid to put in a crunching tackle if he needs to.”
The rising senior at Mountain Brook has maintained a weighted 4.32 GPA.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball and boys and girls track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Heaps joins recent Gatorade Alabama Boys Soccer Players of the Year Jackson Nabors (2020-21, Indian Springs), Tony Shaw (2019-20, Vestavia Hills), Logan Frost (2018-19, Briarwood Christian) and Brooks Rice (2017-18, Spain Park), among the state’s list of former award winners.
Through Gatorade’s “Play it Forward” platform, Heaps has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national organization of his choosing that helps young athletes realize the benefits of playing sports. Heaps is also eligible to submit a short video explaining why the organization they chose is deserving of one of 12 $10,000 spotlight grants, which will be announced throughout the year. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $3.5 million across more than 1,300 organizations.
