LSU Football Freshman Tight End Arik Gilbert Named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year

Gilbert one of the most highly touted tight end prospects in recruiting history after dominant career at Marietta High School

In his four-year career at Marietta High School, LSU freshman Arik Gilbert proved to be one of the most physically dominant high school players in the country. 

As a senior, Gilbert caught 105 passes for 1,860 yards and 15 touchdowns, helping lead Marietta to its first Class 7A state championship since 1967. On Friday, the LSU freshman was recognized for his achievements on the field in high school, by being named the high school Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year.

Gilbert beat out roughly 3.3 million high school male athletes for the honor. Past male athletes that have won the award are LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Kevin Love, Karl Anthony-Towns, Kyler Murray, Jayson Tatum and JT Daniels.

"I was looking at the list ever since I got the trophy and look down and see all the great people that have come before me,” Gilbert said. “I know I have a long way to go before I can be like them but to be on the same list as them is awesome. I’m really grateful.”

Arik Gilbert, 2020 High School Gatorade National Player of the Year

As part of his accomplishment, Gilbert will appear on an advance flip cover of Sports Illustrated's September issue, along with the female athlete Paige Bueckers. Also as part of the announcement, Gilbert received a special shout out from some of sports' most prominent figures including Peyton Manning, Michael Thomas, Todd Gurley, JJ Watt and former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow. 

"I'm just speechless, honestly," Gilbert told SI All-American upon being named the 2019-20 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year. "I never imagined I'd win something like this but now that I have it, I'm really thankful and grateful."

It's pretty clear that the LSU coaching staff expects great things from Gilbert right from the jump. When the Tigers bought him in, the plan immediately became how to put him in as many positions to be successful as possible. 

That's part of the reason coach Ed Orgeron brought in passing game coordinator Scott Linehan, who has a background of coaching elite weapons at receiver. One of the players Linehan coached was Calvin Johnson, aka "Megatron." 

Orgeron said the Tigers plan on using Gilbert in a similar role, electing not to pigeonhole him to tight end but to spread him out wide as well.

"The guy you've gotta look at is Arik Gilbert, I'm considering Arik Gilbert as a wide receiver," Orgeron said on Off the Bench. "I can't wait for him to come back. Obviously we can use him at tight end but we can split him out at "X" and we can get some mismatches with this kid, especially in the redzone. He's going to be a nice target there for Myles Brennan.

"We can use some of the same plays with Arik that Scott ran with Megatron, I'm not saying he's going to be Megatron but he's a good player."

Gilbert was named to the Mackey Award watch list last week, an award given annually to the top tight end in the country.

“He’s a special young man,” LSU receivers coach Mickey Joseph said of Gilbert a few weeks back. “He’s quiet, more to himself, not going to say too much. But when he gets onto the field, you can’t tell this kid was in high school last year. His skillset exceeds him right now.

“He’s a matchup problem,” Joseph added. “When you have [Arik] to the left and Ja’Marr to the right, you’ve got to pick your poison. This kid is going to be great, and he’s probably going to get the third or fourth best cover guy on each team.”