The Daily Times

It’s not often The Daily Times names two football players to share the All-Blount County Football Player of the Year Award, and it might be unprecedented that both players selected happen to have already enrolled at their respective Division I colleges.

That’s how it worked out this year for Patton Robinette and Jay Guillermo, both chosen as The Daily Times All-Blount County players of the year.

Both figure prominently into the Maryville Rebels’ Class 6A Championship and 15-0 record. Following its playoff run, the Rebel football team was ranked No. 15 among 100 prep squads in the nation by Rivals High and characterized this way: “Tennessee Class 6A State Champions. One of the best Maryville teams in the last decade used a dominating performance through the playoffs to put a stamp on the season.”

As Maryville’s starting quarterback, Robinette threw for 1,522 yards, rushed for 886 yards and scored a total of 38 touchdowns. He completed 71 percent of his passes and had only seven interceptions. Robinette committed to University of North Carolina to play football, but changed his mind last week and enrolled at Vanderbilt University instead.

Robinette was selected for the ESPN Elite 11 High School Competition in July and named the Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year, among other accolades. He was chosen Most Valuable Player on offense in the Class 6A BlueCross Bowl and was also a Mr. Football finalist.

He grew up wanting to play Maryville football and was a Rebel ball boy.

“It’s something you dream of your entire life,” Robinette said in a December 2010 interview with The Daily Times. “I know here at Maryville, we’re lucky and we’ve gotten to play in a bunch of state championships, but it’s definitely surreal. It’s something I’ve wanted to do my entire life, and here I am. Here we are as a team. It’s really amazing.”

Guillermo earned several honors as well. He was named to the Sports Illustrated 2011 High School All-America team as an offensive lineman.

A Clemson commitment and a winner of this season’s Mr. Tennessee Football lineman award in Class AAA, Guillermo helped the Rebels to an undefeated season and a 13th state championship, which was also a second straight Class 6A title.

“I was thinking about it on the way over here,” Guillermo said at the time of the Mr. Football award. “Even if you don’t win, it’s an honor just to be recognized as one of the top three in AAA.”

Maryville coach and athletic director George Quarles said after learning of the SI Award, “He has worked extremely hard to go along with his God-given talents. We are all very proud of and excited for Jay.”

A 6-foot-3, 285-pound lineman, Guillermo was also selected to the Under Armour All-America football team and given the opportunity to play in the high school all-star game on Jan. 5, 2012, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., and televised on ESPN. In addition, he was selected to the East Tennessee team and played in the Toyota East vs. West All-Star Classic on Dec. 10.

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