Sportsline Players of the Week: U-High RB Mike Hollins and Amite QB Amani Gilmore

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - The high school football season is now complete and with it, our final player of the week, or in this case, players of the week.

The first is University High senior running back Mike Hollins, who made the most of his final game as a Cub. Hollins was the MVP of the Division II State Championship, as U-High won a 55-46 shootout over the St. Thomas More Cougars. No. 7 rushed for 240 yards, while scoring five touchdowns for the Cubs. The win gave U-High back-to-back state titles.

Hollins is verbally committed to the Virginia Cavaliers.

"Mike came on the scene and did a lot of things as a young guy,” said head coach Chad Mahaffey. “He was always motivated to improve. I think he really learned to really use his vision to help him use the power that he has.”

“Give it my all,” Hollins added. “O-line executed, great play calling. Hats off to God. We wouldn’t be here without him.”

The other player of the week is another state championship MVP. While countless college coaches were on hand to watch Amite defensive lineman Ishmael Sopsher and wide receiver/defensive back Devonta Lee, it was quarterback Amani Gilmore who accounted for nearly 400 yards of total offense and six touchdowns in the Warriors 47-20 2A State Championship win over Welsh. Gilmore, a Kentucky Wildcat verbal commitment, led Amite to its first state title since 2004.

“One word that I can use to really describe Amani is humble,” said head coach Zephaniah Powell. “He’s never too high. He’s never too low. He’s right there in the middle and he played a fantastic game.”

“It’s a blessing because I know I got a good group of athletes around me that helped me come to this point,” Gilmore explained. “We’ve been working since last January when we lost and to say we came this far, I think we deserve it all.”

WAFB is proud to present University High and Amite High with this week’s Sportsline Player of the Week awards in the names of running back Mike Hollins and quarterback Amani Gilmore.

Copyright 2018 WAFB. All rights reserved.