In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced BJ Alleyne of Salesianum School is the 2023-24 Gatorade Delaware Football Player of the Year. Alleyne is the ninth Gatorade Delaware Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Salesianum School and the third for the 2023-24 school year.    

The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Alleyne as Delaware’s best high school football player. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcases the power of sport, touting an all-star group of alumni that includes Emmitt Smith (1986-87, Escambia High School, Fla.), Peyton Manning (1993-94, Isidore Newman School, La.) and Jackson Arnold (2022-23, John H. Guyer High School, Texas).  

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior running back rushed for 1,708 yards and 29 touchdowns this past season, averaging 6.3 yards per carry and 131.4 yards per game to lead the Sallies to a 12-1 record and the Class 3A state title, the program’s first in 10 years. He also caught 13 passes for 117 yards and threw a pair of touchdown passes.  

Alleyne has volunteered locally at a church breakfast, making omelets, bussing tables and working the cash register. He also has donated his time as a youth ambassador and as a caretaker at the Teen Warehouse, a youth center in Wilmington. “He is explosive with the ball in his hands, he can take over a game and he runs harder in person than it appears on film,” said Hodgson Vocational Tech High School head coach Dave Collins. “He lines up at running back, quarterback, and catches the ball out of the backfield well, and is a threat to take it to the house anytime he touches the ball.”  

Alleyne has maintained an A-minus average in the classroom. He has made a verbal commitment to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he will play football, beginning this fall.  

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.  

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sports, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, Gatorade Player of the Year winners’ grants have totaled more than $4.9 million across more than 1,600 organizations.  To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners, or nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY, Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade and Twitter at twitter.com/Gatorade.