NC Player of the Year: Elijah Hood

Each year, a player or team stand out each season and demonstrates how truly special and unique they are; one that looks to start off what could be a bright future for them in their career.

Last year, T.J. Logan was the winner of the Arnold R. Solomon Award as the top player in the state of North Carolina from NCPreps.

Well, it is that time of the year again, as the football season is just a weekend away from being over.

It is with great honor that the staff of NCPreps.com announce the winner of the 2013 Arnold R. Solomon Award for the North Carolina High School Football Player of the Year to running back Elijah Hood of Charlotte Catholic High School.

Hood led the Charlotte Catholic team to a 12-3 record on the year, just falling short in the playoffs last week against Dudley. His team finished the season with a 7-0 conference, one that consisted of several playoff teams this year.

He finished the year with 351 carries and ran for 3,640 yards on the season, reaching the end zone 53 different times this past season. Hood averaged over 240 yards a game for the Cougars and had nine different games in which he got into the end zone four or more times.

For his career though, Hood has over 600 carries at running back and has ran for 6,949 yards and 101 touchdowns during his junior and senior season, averaging over 11 yards per carry.

Hood has decided to take his talent to the University of North Carolina next year, in which he will join the team early in January and looks to continue his dominate play throughout his college career in the ACC and in front of his family and friends.

Here is what some of the staff at NCPreps had to say about the talented running back out of Charlotte.

-- Deana King, Publisher of NCPreps.com

"Elijah Hood has had a remarkable high school career. He has amazing power and speed on the gridiron. Elijah is an outstanding student-athlete and will be a very successful in whatever he does."

-- Kevin Utz, Staff Anaylist

"Elijah Hood is just an amazing player. Every time he plays you see different skills standout, whether it is his size, speed, vision, balance, or strength. Hood is a great player and more importantly a tremendous person."

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 the best source 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.

It truly is an honor to announce and present Hood with this award this year from NCPreps, as there were several candidates this year in the state of North Carolina for this award.

It truly shows the talent and competition around North Carolina this year, in what has been a spectacular and special year of football for all.

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