It’s almost time for another season of high school football, and that means the return of the KDKA Radio Super 7 Awards.
Each week throughout the 2022 season, we will recognize the top performers from each week, and add them to the Super 7 watchlist.
At the end of the season, KDKA Radio will crown the seven winners of the prestigious KDKA Super 7 Award.
The following players — one for each WPIAL classification and one for the Pittsburgh City League — have already established themselves as some of the best of the best.
Here are the 2022 KDKA Radio Super 7 Preseason Players of the Year.
Class 6A: Anthony Speca, Central Catholic
Speca, a 4-star recruit, is one of the top juniors in the state of Pennsylvania, and a consensus top 20 linebacker recruit nationally.
In his first two seasons with the Vikings, he has led the way for a stingy defense that reached the WPIAL title game in 2021, and won the WPIAL title in 2020. Last season, he made 70 tackles as the team's top inside linebacker.
The 6-2, 220 pound Speca has received considerable interest from schools all over the country, and has offers from Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State and many more.
Class 5A: Brad Birch, Gateway
Birch is one of the best quarterback prospects in the state and, like Speca, is only a junior.
Last season — his first at Gateway after transferring from Jeannette — he led the WPIAL in passing yards with 2,623, and slung 27 touchdowns.
As a freshman, Birch was fifth in the district in yards with 1,676 to go with 28 touchdowns, the second-most scores in the WPIAL. That year, he received a scholarship offer from Pac 12 power Oregon. He has since picked up interest from many others, including an offer from Akron.
Class 4A: Rodney Gallagher, Laurel Highlands
In a classification absolutely loaded with talent this year, Gallagher is the best of the bunch.
The senior played quarterback last season, but will play wide receiver in 2022. That is the position he will play at West Virginia, where he committed in May.
Also a standout on the basketball court, Gallagher is a 4-star recruit ranked 153rd nationally by 247Sports. He passed for 1,365 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, while rushing for 1,130 yards and scoring 20 touchdowns.
Class 3A: Quinton Martin, Belle Vernon
Martin is one of the most physically imposing athletes locally, and is getting massive collegiate interest as arguably the top recruit in Western Pennsylvania at the moment.
Last season, Martin rushed for 902 yards and hauled in 164 receiving yards, while scoring 16 touchdowns in a complementary role to Class 4A KDKA Super 7 Award winner Devin Whitlock.
Now, the Belle Vernon show will be run by Martin, a junior who is ranked in the top 25 recruits nationally and has picked up offers from Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan and many more.
Class 2A: Davoun Fuse, Washington
A long, super athletic athlete, Fuse is a 3-star prospect already committed to play in the Big Ten at Rutgers.
Last year, Fuse played quarterback, passing for 713 yards and rushing/receiving for over 300 more, while also accounting for a total of 25 touchdowns.
Akron, Toledo and Pitt also extended offers to the 6-4 senior, who enters his final season for the long-time power Washington Prexies program.
1A: Braylan Lovelace, Leechburg
The first Division I recruit to come out of Leechburg since his father Dave in 1993, Lovelace is making a name for himself, and the Blue Devils program.
In 2021, he rushed for 1,506 yards on just 171 carries, and caught 12 passes for 115 yards, scoring 30 touchdowns. His rushing yards were good for 9th in the WPIAL and his 184 points accounted for were fourth in the district.
Lovelace, a linebacker recruit ranked 20th in Pennsylvania, committed to Pitt in June.
City: Ta’Mere Robinson, Brashear
Unfortunately, this may be the only time you will see Robinson’s name on the Super 7 lists throughout 2022.
A senior, the 4-star recruit is ranked as the second best prospect in Pennsylvania, but may have to miss the upcoming season as he recovers from a knee injury, suffered last season.
The edge rusher, however, is the City League’s top player, and committed to Penn State in July, choosing the Nittany Lions over a long list of Power 5 programs.
The high school football season kicks off Friday, as KDKA Radio will once again provide award-winning broadcast coverage of the region’s biggest game of the week. This week, you can hear Gateway vs Mt. Lebanon on 100.1 FM and 1020 AM KDKA Radio, with pregame coverage starting at 6 p.m. Follow @KDKARadio on Twitter and Instagram for updates throughout each Friday night. View the full season schedule in the tweet below.