In its 34th year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company today announced Aminu Mohammed of Greenwood Laboratory School as its 2018-19 Gatorade Missouri Boys Basketball Player of the Year. Mohammed is the first Gatorade Missouri Boys Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Greenwood Laboratory School.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Mohammed as Missouri’s best high school boys basketball player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March, Mohammed joins an elite alumni association of past state boys basketball award winners, including Karl-Anthony Towns (2012-13 & 2013-14, St. Joseph High School, N.J.), Dwight Howard (2003-04, Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy, Ga.), Chris Bosh (2001- 02, Lincoln High School, Texas), Paul Pierce (1994-95, Inglewood High School, Calif.), Chauncey Billups (1993-94 & 1994-95, George Washington High School, Colo.) and Jason Kidd (1991-92, St. Joseph Notre Dame High School, Calif.).
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound sophomore forward led the Blue Jays to a 29-3 record and the Class 2 state championship this past season. Mohammed, a transfer from Archbishop Carroll High in Washington, D.C., averaged 34.2 points, 17.5 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 2.3 assists per game, and he scored 24 points to go with 14 rebounds in a 55-54 win over Oran High, leading Greenwood to its first state title since 1942. Ranked as the No. 12 recruit in the Class of 2021 by ESPN, he was the Class 2 District 10 Player of the Year.
A native of Nigeria, Mohammed has volunteered locally as a youth basketball coach. “Aminu Mohammed is by far the most talented player I have ever coached against,” said Derlad Henderson, head coach of Stockton High. “He’s extremely athletic. His leaping ability allows him to completely dominate the offensive and defensive glass. And he is not just a great athlete, he is a polished scorer.”
Mohammed has maintained a 3.46 GPA in the classroom. He will begin his junior year of high school 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 work with top sport-specific experts and a media advisory board of accomplished, veteran prep sports journalists to determine the state winners in each sport.
Mohammed joins Gatorade Missouri Boys Basketball Players of the Year Torrence Watson (2017-18, Whitfield School), Jared Ridder (2016-17, Kickapoo High School), and Jayson Tatum (2015-16 & 2014-15, Chaminade College Preparatory School) among the state’s list of former award winners.
As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Mohammed also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.
