Vote: Who was the 2024 Nebraska Football Player of the Year?

We give you six candidates to choose from

It's time for the state championship finals in Nebraska high school football! / Photo by Taylor Balkom

The high school football season is beginning to wrap up across the country and we start to take a closer look at player of the year awards.

But first, we want to let the fans decide on who they believe are the players most deserving before we here at High School On SI start naming the top performers of the 2024 season.

We continue to the Midwest region and to the great state of Nebraska and we ask the question: Who was the 2024 Nebraska Football Player of the Year? 

This list consists of eight worthy candidates and we're asking for your help as the fan to vote on who you believe had the best season this fall.

Voting will end on December 31st, 2024.

SBLive voting polls are intended to be a fun way to create fan engagement and express support for your favorite high school athletes and teams. Unless expressly noted, there are no awards for winning the voting. Our primary focus is to highlight the abilities and accomplishments of all the athletes and teams included in our poll. You can vote as often as you wish and are encouraged to share our polls with others. The use of voting bots and other forms of automated voting are not allowed. Individuals will be removed from the poll if any form of automated voting can be verified. - SBLive Sports

Here are the nominations:

Jett Thomalla, QB, Millard

When you look at the kinda numbers Thomalla compiled over the course of the 2024 season, it might be a landslide when it comes to this question of best in Nebraska. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound quarterback finished the season completing 250-of-359 passes for 3,664 yards, 47 touchdowns and only three picks. Really, some stellar numbers no matter what state you reside out of.

Conor Booth, RB/LB, Bishop Neumann

One of the state's most versatile players had himself another strong campaign out of the backfield for Bishop Neumann. Booth was a scoring machine at running back, finishing with 50 scores on the ground. The tailback rushed for 2,956 yards on 266 carries, averaging out to a staggering 11.1 yard per carry. On defense, Booth managed four tackles, a sack and one interception.

Quinn Bailey, RB, Chadron

Right behind Booth when it came to rushing totals was Bailey out of Chadron. The running back piled up some massive numbers in the ground game all of 2024. Bailey ended the season rushing for 2,674 yards on 356 attempts and found the endzone 32 times. Pretty stout numbers for the Chadron workhorse.

Maxwell Clark, LB, Omaha North

We've got to give the defensive players some love on this list and Clark is the right player to start with. The inside linebacker was stellat in the heart of the Omaha North defense, with Clark tallying 142 total tackles, 31 going for a loss and eight sacks. At 6-foot-3, 225 pounds and just a junior, opposing offenses will have to see Clark again in 2025.

Braylon Anderson, QB/S, Oakland-Craig

Anderson didn't just make a bunch of plays for Oakland-Craig at quarterback, but also at free safety. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior finished the 2024 campaign completing 200-of-292 passes for 3,055 yards and 32 touchdowns. Also rushed for 234 yards and scored seven times on the ground. On defense, Anderson added 24 tackles and picked off three passes.

Michael Knudsen, QB, Gretna

One last signal caller we had to add to the list of candidates was Knudsen out of Gretna because of his consistency throughout the season and solid statistics. Knudsen finished this past season completing 193-of-323 passes for 3,074 yards and 29 touchdowns through the air. The quarterback rushed for 92 yards and five touchdowns.

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Follow SBLive Nebraska throughout the 2024 high school football season for Live Updates, the most up to date Schedules & Scores and complete coverage from the preseason through the state championships!

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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi