Lincolnton High receiver Sage Surratt named N.C. Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year

One year after his brother won the award, Lincolnton High wide receiver Sage Surratt was voted N.C. Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year.

Surratt, 18, was selected by a panel of 23 statewide media organizations, including the Observer. Surratt received 21 of a possible 23 votes to make the AP all-state team, which was released earlier this week. That tied for the most votes with Shelby receiver Jayden Borders and Wake Forest linebacker Darius Hodge.

Last year, Surratt’s older brother, Chazz, won the N.C. offensive award. Chazz Surratt, a college quarterback at North Carolina, was later named Parade Magazine’s national player of the year.

“I’m just very grateful that I’ve even been selected,” Sage Surratt said Saturday on winning offensive player of the year. “It’s a big honor, a great honor, to be selected and follow my brother and be in a category with all the other great guys (on the all-state team).

“It’s definitely a great achievement that Chazz and I have been able to accomplish. I’m excited we could do something like that.”

Surratt is only the second receiver since 1983 to win AP individual honors for an award that has most frequently gone to quarterbacks or running backs. He joins Burlington Cummings receiver Maurice Mebane, who tied for the honor in 1992.

This season, Surratt caught a state-record 129 passes for a state-record 2,104 yards and added 28 touchdowns. The touchdowns are the second-most scored in state history. Surratt led Lincolnton to the N.C. 2A semifinals. For his career, he holds state records for catches (366), yards (5,926) and touchdown receptions (80).

▪ Wake Forest’s Hodge, whose team won the N.C. 4AA championship, was named defensive player of the year.

This story was originally published January 7, 2017 at 1:52 PM with the headline "Lincolnton High receiver Sage Surratt named N.C. Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year."