GNADENHUTTEN — With Athens’ Joe Burrow a rare exception, rural Ohio simply doesn’t produce Mr. Football winners.

Grady Kinsey has successfully cracked that code in 2025.

Kinsey, a record-breaking running back from Gnadenhutten Indian Valley, in southern Tuscarawas County, is the latest recipient of the award after a vote from the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association.

He became the first East District nominee to win since Zanesville’s Ronald “Buster” Howe became the inaugural Mr. Football winner in 1987.

Only Burrow, who won the Heisman Trophy at LSU and before becoming the Bengals’ No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, had won the award from the East or Southeast Districts since Howe.

“It’s just such an honor,” Kinsey said. “If you go on and look at the people who have won this award before me, it’s like (Burrow), (NFL Hall of Famer) Charles Woodson (of Fremont Ross), Cade Stover (of Lexington). There are really some guys there.”

Joining rare company

Kinsey was chosen over Shelby senior quarterback Braden DeVito, who was second in the voting, and defending Mr. Football winner Matt Ponatoski, of Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller. Kinsey and DeVito, whose Whippets reached the Division IV state finals, are Air Force signees. Ponatoski was still committed to Kentucky as of Dec. 4.

Other nominees included Powell Olentangy Orange senior quarterback Levi Davis, Akron Archbishop Hoban junior linebacker Brayton Feister, Liberty Township Lakota East senior running back/defensive back Ryder Hooks, Cleveland Glenville senior linebacker Cincere Johnson and Pickerington Central senior quarterback Rocco Williams.

“A huge congrats to Grady,” DeVito told the Mansfield News Journal. “We are going to Air Force together and if someone else were to win it, I’d want it to be him. We have a good relationship and he is an awesome guy who has a great mind for the game and a great mentality. I am excited to be future teammates with him and I am super happy for him.”

Kinsey learned of winning the award through his coach, Matt Lancaster, and IV athletic director Zach Golec, who visited his home just outside of Tuscarawas to inform him of the news. Kinsey was under the impression they were visiting about his upcoming signing day.

They had far different intentions.

“I was still kind of bummed out because we lost (to Glenville),” Kinsey said. “I just wasn’t in a good mood. And Mr. Golec was like, ‘Grady, I completely lied to you.’ And I’m like, ‘what?’ Then he said, ‘Grady, you are the 2025 Mr. Football winner.’ I was like, ‘no way.’ It was a huge surprise. It was pretty funny, actually.”

A humble superstar

Kinsey, a renowned team-first persona, said the award reflects the work that his coaches and teammates put into winning. In his case, it was a rigorous dedication to weightlifting and offseason speed training at Plus 2 University, in New Philadelphia, that he felt helped him take a bigger step in his development.

“It’s one of those things where I wish I could split it up and give it to my whole team — the whole line, the coaches, everybody,” Kinsey said. “Because it’s one of those things where there are times where people feel like it’s not possible to win (Mr. Football) out of a Division IV school, and Indian Valley at that. I mean, it’s not too terribly known for (statewide) football success before.

“Sometimes you feel bad, because you feel like you’re taking the brunt of all the attention and congratulations,” Kinsey added. “But it’s a blessing for everybody. … We have a bunch of guys who, if they were somewhere else, would be featured running backs.”

It virtually echoed the message that his coach, Lancaster, emphasized. He admitted that he didn’t think it would be possible for a player from a rural school, in an Ohio pool with plenty of big-city blue bloods, to win an award that usually goes to players destined for Power 5 schools.

“And that’s a testament to him and how good he is, and his consistency with what he has done over the years, and then the state championship last year for a small public school that he brought to T County,” Lancaster said. “Then we get back to the Final Four this year. It’s just a testament to him. But the best thing about him, I’m telling you, is his humility. When you interview him, he’s going to say it’s not all about him.”

It’s that humility amidst the hoopla that has drawn him to teammates, coaches and a Braves community that reveres him. Kinsey, who grew up throwing hay on his family farm, is also involved in his church group, assists with Indian Valley youth sports and ranks third of 123 students in his senior class. He has a 4.25 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Despite his fame, especially at the local level, he never let it get to his head. Considering the modern climate of social media and more exposure than ever, it’s no small feat.

“If you talk to anybody who has ever met him before — whether it be a teacher, a freshman student, or an elementary school student, one of his teammates or someone he goes to church with, or opposing coaches — people love him because he’s that guy,” Lancaster said. “He’s so humble and down to Earth and lives his life with service to others. And that is hard to believe from a kid that has accomplished so much. … He epitomizes what we want to see in our student athletes.”

Fast and ferocious

It’s in stark contrast to his ferocious, powerful running style. At 5-8, 205 pounds with 4.4 speed in the 40-yard dash, one Tuscarawas County media type described him as “a rolling ball of razor blades.”

Consider this: He broke his own school single-game rushing record with 324 rushing yards in 2024 against Garaway, then did it again with 364 a week later at Ridgewood. Both won playoff games that season.

In 2025, he ran for 334 yards against Uniontown Green and tormented the Pirates again with a 388-yard effort in which he averaged 14.9 yards per carry. He added another 300-yard showing in the regional semifinals against Plain City Jonathan Alder.

But it was play at inside linebacker in his final campaign, for a much-improved Braves defense, that turned heads inside of his own locker room. He posted 120 tackles, including three sacks, and broke up eight passes.

He prevented multiple long runs in his team’s 34-0 win against 12-1 New Lexington in the regional finals that saved long runs when the game was still in doubt.

“That is where he made his biggest improvement from last year,” Lancaster said. “Last year he didn’t read his keys very well, got distracted in defense. This year he dedicated himself to be a better linebacker because he knew that is what the team needed. We needed to improve defensively. We were in a lot of shootouts last year and he committed to make himself better.”

‘Once-in-a-generation’

He ranks first in Ohio High School Athletic Association history with 133 career touchdowns, ranks second in total points (840), is third in career rushing yards (8,607) and third in single-season touchdowns (50). His 3,278 rushing yards in 2024 rank ninth.

Kinsey said the decision to work with Plus 2 in the offseason, with a direct focus on improving his speed, was the difference in becoming an elite runner. It came at the cost of a promising wrestling career, which he ended after his sophomore year, but the payoff made the choice worthwhile.

The reward was a state title, a Division I scholarship and the state’s most prestigious individual award.

“It’s the speed,” Kinsey said. “And I think that is kind of the consensus on football in general. The difference between a lot of D-II (college) guys and lot of D-I guys is just one can run. You can be the same guy, as far as making great cuts and being able to take on contact and just winning physical battles. If you can’t run, you just can’t run. In developing football players, your priority needs to be to get fast, quick.”

It’s that speed and discipline with his training he hopes leads to even more success at a regimented program like Air Force.

“It’s my next goal, my next venture,” Kinsey said. “My goal is to be ready to go play on a college football field and eventually take carries and be a productive running back in Colorado Springs.”

One thing is certain: His name won’t soon be forgotten in the Tusky-Port-Gnaden corridor anytime soon.

“He’s a one-of-a-kind and a once-in-a-generation player,” Lancaster said.