Hoover star center and Tennessee signee DeWayne Brown has been named the Gatorade Alabama boys basketball player of the year for the 2024-2025 season.

Brown led the Bucs to the Class 7A state title and a perfect 35-0 season. He is Hoover’s first Gatorade Boys Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-9 senior averaged 15 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.9 blocks, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals for Scott Ware’s team. He also connected on 69 percent of his shots from the field.

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“He’s got an old-school game” Ware said of Brown following the Bucs’ state title win against Florence. “He’s not a high-flyer. He’s really worked on his shots, so he can extend out on the floor. He’s a Tennessee kind of a player. He fits in well with what they try to do. I expect big things out of DeWayne. His body is going to keep getting better and better.”

Earlier this week, the Alabama Sports Writers Association named Brown one of three finalists for Class 7A Player of the Year, an honor he won in 2024. He’s also expected to be one of the leading contenders for the state’s Mr. Basketball Award, which will be announced April 17.

He finished his high school career with 1,814 points and 1,189 rebounds.

“DeWayne Brown is a force in high school athletics,” said Obadiah Threadgill, head coach of Sparkman High School. “His team is built around him. They play through him. And he’s a proven winner.”

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports – football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field – and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.

The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.

Spring Garden’s Ace Austin was last week named the girls Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year.