George Rogers Clark’s star running back Azariah Israel continues to rack up awards for his stellar performance last season.

After amassing 2,839 yards and 30 touchdowns over the course of his junior season, Israel won the 6A District 8 Player of the Year award.

After winning the district-wide award, Israel was nominated for the LEX18 Sports Zone Player of the Year award, a state-wide award that featured seven other football players. Israel won the award with more than 14,000 votes.

“It means so much to me. It just lets me know how much the community supports me and hopefully it’s going to get me more attention from colleges and hopefully get me that first offer,” Israel said. “The support I got from the community was amazing. I can’t thank them enough.”

But Israel’s time as a Cardinal isn’t over yet, as he returns for his senior season in 2020, and Israel has his goals already in mind for his last year at GRC.

“I want to break all the records I set this year,” Israel said. “And come out with a better end to the season.”

One person who will surely be happy to see Israel back in the red and black next season is head coach Oliver Lucas.

“He means a lot to me. He epitomizes the term student-athlete. It’s not just on the field. He’s a great person off the football field. You can tell by all these people who showed up today, everybody loves him. He’s a great person,” Lucas said. “For us football-wise, he’s the engine. He’s what makes us go. He’s got that ‘ooh-wee’ factor that we call a time bomb. You can always hear it ticking and you never know when it’s going to explode.”

His ‘ooh-wee’ factor is one of the traits Lucas believes Israel will be able to take to the next level, something Israel hopes this award will help him do.

“He’s going to be a kid who works hard and he’s going to score a lot. [College teams] will be surprised by how strong he is and how durable he is. He’s going to bring attitude, but a quiet storm-like attitude,” Lucas said. “And again, his work ethic. His work ethic is infectious. You want to perform for him. If you’re an offensive lineman, you want to block for him because he’s going to be humble and respectful and he’ll always give you the praise and never himself.”