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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

This year’s Shelby County Player of the Year race was filled with deserving candidates who could make their case to be named the most impactful player in the area.

It’s incredibly hard to imagine where Shelby County would have been without Anthony Palmieri powering the offense with big runs, as well as Spain Park without Corey Barber stepping up to help Brock Bradley or Vincent without Grayson Gulde terrorizing opposing backfields.

However, throughout the year, one man consistently stepped up and made game-changing plays which decided the outcome of games and powered his team to glory.

His name is Anquon Fegans. While he goes by “Newboy,” he has another title to add: 2024 Shelby County Player of the Year.

The Thompson safety entered the year as one of the most highly-touted defensive prospects not just in the county or the state, but the entire country. Listed as one of the top 10 safeties in the Class of 2025 by 247Sports, he made waves over the summer for completing his flip from USC to Auburn, becoming one of the star prospects of Hugh Freeze’s No. 6 recruiting class.

However, he still had a full season ahead of him before he moved to the Plains, giving him a chance to accomplish what he was unable to a year ago: win the Class 7A state championship.

The loss to Central-Phenix City to snap the four-year state title streak hit Fegans hard, and while he could have just coasted in his senior year with his SEC future secure, he came back motivated and ready to lead the Warriors defense.

And lead he did, anchoring the secondary as one of the veteran leaders and letting his performance do the talking.

Fegans once again drew the top matchups each week, taking care of each team’s best receiver with lockdown coverage and daring opposing quarterbacks to test him.

Sometimes they did test his coverage, and they frequently paid for it. Fegans’ six interceptions once again led the county and flipped the field for Thompson.

Those interceptions came in big situations too, including a game-sealing interception in a 15-10 win over Hewitt-Trussville, which was actually his second pick of the game.

Fegans also finished the year with seven pass deflections as he made sure that if he didn’t pick the ball off, it was out of harm’s way.

As a safety though, Fegans also made plays outside of coverage and helped limit big gains from the Warriors’ opposition. He finished the campaign with 80 tackles, the most of any defensive back in the county by 14, with 56 of them being solo tackles and nine counting for a loss.

Fegans didn’t just create turnovers with his interceptions, though. He also wrestled away two forced fumbles and recovered two as well, giving him eight turnovers for the season.

Of those eight, he returned three to the house, providing a crucial spark for Thompson, especially early in the season when the offense was still working out some chemistry issues and hadn’t reached its full potential.

With Fegans though, the Warriors defense was as consistent as any in the state, finishing the year with an average of just 12.9 points allowed per game.

In 14 games, Thompson allowed a touchdown or less in six of them, including three of the four playoff games, and more than 21 points in just one game, and Hoover needed overtime to accomplish that.

After losing out on the state championship a year ago, Fegans was one of the key reasons why the Warriors got back on top this year.

Even just looking at the state title game itself, he largely eliminated three-star Miami commit Daylyn Upshaw from the equation after a big start to the game, and he secured an interception on an overthrown ball to keep All-Star quarterback Andrew Alford from reaching the end zone through the air.

Fegans’ individual honors will likely keep coming from here. He is a reigning two-time First Team member of the MaxPreps All-American team and All-State First Team, and with his Shelby County Player of the Year win, made the All-County First Team for the third straight year.

After converting his Shelby County Player of the Year finalist status in 2023 into a win in 2024, he is likely to be considered for 7A Back of the Year once again after being a finalist for it last year, if not win it and enter consideration for Super All-State and Mr. Football honors.

But while the individual accolades are nice, for a player like Fegans, one of his most important goals entering the season had little to do with him. It was to win a state championship and put his team, Thompson, back on top and restore its title-winning reputation.

He did just that, winning his third state championship as a Warrior. And as a result of his instrumental contributions to his team’s success, he can leave Shelby County as its top player.