CHICAGO (January 3, 2023) — In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Navi Bruzon of Liberty High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade Arizona Football Player of the Year. Bruzon is the first Gatorade Arizona Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Liberty High School.

The award, which celebrates the nation’s top high school athletes for excellence on the field, in the classroom and in the community, distinguishes Bruzon as Arizona’s best high school football player. From CEOs and coaches to star athletes, Gatorade Player of the Year winners showcase 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 state’s returning Gatorade Player of the Year, the 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior quarterback led the Lions to a 12- 1 record and the Open Division state championship this past season. Bruzon passed for 3,287 yards and 32 touchdowns, adding 972 yards and 21 scores on the ground. He was the 2022 Conference 6A Offensive Player of the Year and is a two-time Conference 6A Region Player of the Year.

Bruzon has appeared in public service announcements about teen suicide prevention. He has also volunteered locally as a youth football coach and has donated his time to his school’s Unified Sports program, serving physically and intellectually challenged young athletes. “Navi is a once-in-a-generation type player,” said Colin Thomas, head coach of Liberty High. “He elevates the entire program. He makes a positive impact on every person on our team.”

Bruzon has maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom. He has formally committed to play football at Arizona State University this fall as a preferred walk-on.

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.

Two-time winner Bruzon joins recent Gatorade Arizona Football Players of the Year Nicco Marchiol (2021-22, Hamilton High School), Ty Thompson (2020-21, Mesquite High School), and Bijan Robinson (2019-20, Salpointe Catholic High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.

As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, 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 to nominate studentathletes, 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.