CHICAGO (January 3, 2024) — In its 39th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade today announced Austyn Modrzewski of Mountain Vista High School is the 2023-24 Gatorade Colorado Football Player of the Year. Modrzewski is the first Gatorade Colorado Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Mountain Vista 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 Modrzewski as Colorado’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 6-foot-4, 190-pound junior quarterback passed for 3,675 yards and 41 touchdowns this past season, leading the Golden Eagles (9-3) to the Class 5A state postseason quarterfinals. Modrzewski also rushed for 334 yards and five scores. A 2022 Class 5A First Team All-State selection and a three-year starter at quarterback, he passed for at least three TDs in 10 of the Eagles’ 12 games.
 
Modrzewski has volunteered locally as a youth football coach and mentor. “Austyn makes that offense run,” said Eric Handke, head coach of Castle View High School. “He has some talented receivers, but Austyn has made some spectacular throws to them this year that I haven’t seen hardly any quarterbacks make in my 25 years of coaching.”
 
Modrzewski has maintained a weighted 3.57 GPA in the classroom. He will begin his senior 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 leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
 
Modrzewski joins recent Gatorade Colorado Football Players of the Year Blake Purchase (2022-23, Cherry Creek High School), Gavin Sawchuk (2021-22 & 2020-21, Valor Christian High School), and Tanner Hollens (2019-20, Columbine 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 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.