At the end of his senior season, Mark Zackery IV was surprised with the state's top individual award on the gridiron. The Ben Davis CB/WR was named 2024 Indiana Mr. Football.
"I was a ball boy when Reese Taylor won Mr. Football, so just looking up to him and seeing what he accomplished when he was here, and just following his footsteps and trying to work at it every day to become Mr. Football, it means a lot," Zackery said.
In addition to the individual award, Zackery helped deliver a state championship to Ben Davis as a junior in 2023. He was also still deciding between two powerhouses to start his college career: Notre Dame and Michigan.
"I just prayed to God that he would choose the right place for me and be where my heart was supposed to be," Zackery said. "And then a week later, Michigan's staff had left. So I feel like that was kind of a given of where I was supposed to be."
There are two other Indiana Mr. Football winners on the Fighting Irish this season: Jack Kiser (2018) and Drayk Bowen (2022). It's a testament to high school football in the Hoosier State as a whole, but also added motivation for the Ben Davis senior.
"That was one of the things that they kind of preached to me and told me in the recruiting process was that you need to be somewhat of a hometown hero," Zackery said. "It's a great blessing to be able to be putting on for Indiana, my home state."