WHATABURGER / ETB PLAYERS OF THE WEEK | The list for this school year so far, and the new shirt!
The Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week Award dates back to the earliest days of ETBlitz.com, right after this website was launched on Oct. 20, 2023.
Whataburger, which celebrated its 75th anniversary this past year, is one of the founding advertising partners with ETBlitz.com. And our players of the week award has been copied by just about everyone in East Texas, it seems.
That’s good. The more recognition local athletes get, the better. That’s why this award was established in the first place.
But there are the copies, and then there’s the original. And the original is identified by this:
- A standard of excellence for the athletes themselves, a boy and a girl each week.
- The endorsement of Whataburger, known for its support of high school athletics not just in the state of Texas but beyond.
- The now-established name of ETBlitz.com, approaching the 10-million-hit mark after just over two years of existence.
- Each winner gets a T-shirt, emblazoned with the ETBlitz logo, in Whataburger colors; our original shirts were orange with the white electric “ETBlitz” logo; our updated shirts for the 2025-26 school year are black, with the logo in orange and outlined in white.
We do have one apology, however.
Our distributor for our T-shirts changed over the course of this school year and it ran us behind. We have several shirts we need to deliver to our winners. And we try not to do anything half-hearted here.
So here, in this space, is the collective list of winners of the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week award for the school year so far. We will skip this week, and not have the award, and skip next week as well, both due to the holidays and inactivity.
The awards will return on Monday, Jan. 12, and that would be announcing winners from performances based on that previous week (Monday, Jan. 5 through Saturday, Jan. 10).
When school resumes after the holidays, ETBlitz will be by every school to bring those award-winners their shirts who have not yet received them.
Here are the athletes who have been named Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week in this school year. Note that we have a few repeat winners: K.J. Edwards of Carthage has won the award three times this school year, and there are several two-time winners (Tatum’s Kamdyn Scott, Kilgore’s Kayson Brooks, Rayshaun Williams and LaKeyleon Graves, and West Rusk’s Kamyah Lacy).
Sept. 1: Jaxsen Ludlow (White Oak football) and Elle Litchenburg (Kilgore volleyball).
Sept. 8: Kayson Brooks (Kilgore football), Sarah Roberts (Sabine volleyball).
Sept. 15: Rayshaun Williams (Kilgore football), Kaysen Foster (Tatum volleyball).
Sept. 22: K. J. Edwards (Carthage football), Mary Ella Hampton (Henderson volleyball).
Sept. 29: LaKeyleon Graves (Kilgore football), Keely McCann (Sabine volleyball).
Oct. 6: Judson Dotson (West Rusk football), Kamdyn Scott (Tatum volleyball).
Oct. 13: Ja’Kalen Sheffield (Kilgore football), Carly Chadwick (Pine Tree volleyball).
Oct. 20: Kayson Brooks (Kilgore football), Kellen Weaver (Beckville volleyball).
Oct. 27: Colton Croft (Pine Tree football), Andee Bridges (White Oak volleyball).
Nov. 3: Grant Adcock (Tatum football), Kamdyn Scott (Tatum volleyball).
Nov. 10: Achilles Hess (Gladewater football), Addison Edmond (Pine Tree basketball).
Nov. 17: Rayshaun Williams (Kilgore football), Jazmin Johnson (Pine Tree basketball).
Nov. 24: K.J. Edwards (Carthage football), Kamyah Lacy (West Rusk basketball).
Dec. 1: Josh Smith (Arp football), Serenity Oliver (Kilgore basketball).
Dec. 8: LaKeyleon Graves (Kilgore football), Kamyah Lacy (West Rusk basketball).
Dec. 15: Dre’ Sanders (Kilgore football), Ashby Croswell (Overton basketball).
Dec. 22: K.J. Edwards AND Jett Surratt (TIE; Carthage football), Qhenja Jordan (Troup basketball).
Again, thanks to Whataburger / DKT Investments for being our advertising partner for the players of the week award.
We have spoken in length about how much time our staff spends at Whataburger. The World’s Greatest Restaurant is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week in most locations (and throughout East Texas), and serves favorites like the Patty Melt, the Dr. Pepper Shake, the Buffalo Ranch chicken strip sandwich, and of course, the good old combo number one, the original Whataburger, with or without cheese. Whataburger’s menu is vast and can be seen here, Whataburger.com, and don’t forget their app! Download the app and use it at the register when checking out, then collect points for free items.
Congratulations to all of these young women and men for winning the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week Award this school year, and we look forward to continuing to present throughout the remainder of the year for soccer, basketball, baseball, track, softball and more.
