Baylor's Ribeiro, Gouger named Mr. Football winners

Baylor School counts not one, but two of this year's 11 Tennessee Titans Mr. Football award recipients among its ranks.

Both senior football standouts, offensive lineman Barrett Gouger was named Mr. Football Division II AA Lineman of the Year and kicker Henrique Ribeiro Mr. Football Kicker of the Year.

photo Baylor School senior football players kicker Henrique Ribeiro, left, and offensive lineman Barrett Gouger are Mr. Football award recipients.

"Only four people from Baylor have won Mr. Football awards ... Jacob Huseman, Jacques McClendon, Henrique Ribeiro and me," said Soddy-Daisy's Gouger, who stands at 6-foot-4 and weighs in at 280 pounds. "It's an honor to get the award. I am following in the footsteps of other great people who have won it."

Gouger, who started his football path at age 7, is committed to play football in the fall at Vanderbilt University. He began playing football for Baylor School in sixth grade. He said the Baylor School Red Raiders football team has a lot of good leaders. This season the team only lost one game to Brentwood.

"It was exciting to get the Mr. Football award," said Gouger, whose bench max is 320 pounds. "I had no idea I would win. I was not surprised that Henrique won because he makes a lot of good kicks and throwbacks so he deserves it."

Ribeiro, who began playing football last year, said he was surprised to win the award as well. He played soccer in Brazil the majority of his life. He has been enrolled at Baylor School for about two years.

"I decided to play football to meet new people and get into the culture," said the boarding student. "I never thought of it as a first sport until last year. Now I would like to play football in college."

Both players said they would like to thank their coaches, staff and teammates for making the Red Raiders like a family.

"Everyone likes everyone on the team," said Ribeiro. "We have everyone's back; that's what gets us through every game."

Red Raiders head football coach Phil Massey said Gouger and Ribeiro are well-deserving of the statewide recognition which is the result of nominations from media and coaches from other teams.

Both Gouger and Ribeiro have great statistics on the team, Massey said. Ribeiro has 11 for 14 field goals, his longest kick is 57 yards and out of 59 kickoffs 53 have been touchbacks. Meanwhile, Gouger has graded out 90 percent and has 30 pancake blocks.

Upcoming Events