It is with great honor that the staff of NCPreps.com announce the winner of the 2018 Arnold R. Solomon Award for the North Carolina High School Football Player of the Year to quarterback Sam Howell of Sun Valley High School. The award was sponsored by VTO Sports.

Howell, a 6'1 215-pound senior has been an outstanding student-athlete for the Spartans as he led the team to a 10-3 record and a state playoff berth. This year, he finished the season by completing 179 passes out of 299 attempts for 3,240 yards with 31 touchdowns and rushing 175 times for 1,392 yards with 17 touchdowns. He finished his high school career as North Carolina's all-time leader in total offense with 16,815 total yards (13,355 passing and 3,460 rushing.)

He is a 4-star recruit from Rivals.com and has decided to attend the University of North Carolina on a football scholarship.

"Sam Howell has achieved a lot of success during his career at Sun Valley as being a dual-sport athlete. He had an outstanding senior season on the gridiron by leading his team to a 10-3 record and state playoff berth. He also was selected for the NC Shrine Bowl team and the All-American game. We are honored to select a very deserving student-athlete like Sam for this award and wish him nothing but the best in future endeavors," stated Deana King, Publisher of NCPreps.com.

The Arnold R. Solomon Award was started in 2010 in honor of Mr. Solomon, who was the founder of NCPreps.com and North Carolina Prep Football News, Inc. Solomon, who resides in Kannapolis is a long-time high school sports historian and was known state-wide for his Fearless Freddie Farkel football predictions. He also started the North Carolina Prep Football News Yearbook, which is one of the best sources of NC high school information around.

"Arnold retired back in 2009 and I wanted to do something to honor him for all his work dealing with the student-athletes. This was a no-brainer to name the award after him,"said King.

ARNOLD R. SOLOMON WINNERS:

2010 - QB Marquise Williams - Mallard Creek

2011 - RB Todd Gurley - Tarboro

2012 - RB T.J. Logan - Northern Guilford

2013 - RB Elijah Hood - Charlotte Catholic

2014 - QB Chazz Surratt - East Lincoln

2015 - QB Chazz Surratt - East Lincoln

2016 - QB Hendon Hooker - Dudley

2017 - RB Zamir White - Scotland County