Buck Buchanan Award Winners

Melvin Laster

Liberty North Linebacker

Melvin Laster became the first player to win the Buck Buchanan for a third time. The senior won his sophomore and junior season and followed that up with a stellar senior season. He led the Eales to their first-ever Missouri Class 6 state championship.

Melvin Laster

Liberty North

Laster had an outstanding junior season finishing with 55 solo and 83 total tackles, 14 tackles for loss, four sacks and three forced fumbles. He anchored a defense that allowed no more than 14 points in the 12 wins the Eagles had as North finished 12-1 losing to state champion CBC.

Melvin Laster

Liberty North

Laster helped lead the Eagles to their first every football state championship game. Liberty North fell to CBC in the Missouri Class 6 title game but it was the first football team in the 115-year history of the Liberty School District to make a championship game. This past season he was named the Suburban Gold Defensive Player of the Year after being all-Conference as a freshman. Laster finished with 78 solo tackles with 7.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Ethan Kremer

Mill Valley Defensive Lineman

He finished his senior season with 53 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks. Kremer was also a force on the offensive line blocking for an offense that averaged 394 yards per game this season.

Johnny Wilson

Park Hill Defensive Lineman

Wilson racked up 97 tackles, 28 TFL, 13 sacks, 18 quarterback hurries, six forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, one blocked punt and one blocked field goal. He finished his career with 23 sacks.

Von Young IV

Fort Osage Linebacker

Young had 107 tackles, including 12 for loss, and added six sacks, four interceptions, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries while leading the Indians to a 9-5 record and a Class 5 state runner-up finish. He was chosen first-team Class 5 all-state and was the Class 5 State Defensive Player of the Year by the Missouri Football Coaches Association.

Daniel Parker

Blue Springs Offensive/Defensive Lineman

Guided Blue Springs High School to the 2017 Class 6A State Championship game vs. CBC (St. Louis), finishing as state runner-up. Totaled 16 sacks as a senior and was a two-way standout, also playing along the offensive line at Blue Springs.

Chester Graves

Park Hill Defensive Lineman

Graves holds Park Hill single-season and career records for sacks and tackles for loss. He had 126 tackles this year, 82 of them solo, with 25 tackles for loss and six sacks.

Amani Bledsoe

Lawrence Defensive Lineman

Carlos Davis

Blue Springs

Elijah Lee

Blue Springs

Elijah Lee

Blue Springs

Evan Boehm

Lee's Summit West Offensive Lineman

The No. 1-rated offensive guard in the country for the Class of 2012, according to ESPN, Boehm signed with the University of Missouri where he set a Mizzou record by starting all 52 games of his career. In the 2012 season opener, he became the first true freshman to start on the offensive line for Missouri under head coach Gary Pinkel. He finished as the only lineman to start every 2012 game for the Tigers and was named 1st-Team Freshman All-American by College Football News. In 2013 he moved to Center and was one of 44 linemen nationally named to the prestigious Rimington Trophy Fall Watch List. He was also on the 2014 Rimington and Outland Trophy watch lists.

Evan Boehm

Lee's Summit Offensive Lineman

Jordan Chrisman

Blue Springs

Andrew Wilson

Raymore-Peculiar

"Bear" Hollins

Park Hill

Tony Taylor

Blue Springs South

Jeff Julian

Blue Springs South

Allan Smith

Rockhurst

Todd Haselhorst

Olathe East

Bruce Ringwood

Blue Springs

Kevin Kane

Rockhurst

Earl Jack

Blue Springs

Kansas: Micah Marshall

Olathe North Missouri: Dale Long

Kansas: Karl Zubeck

Shawnee Mission East Missouri: Justin Browser

Kansas: Rashid Hannibal

Olathe North Missouri: John Garrison

Kansas: Jeff Debiak

Olathe North Missouri: Mike Hayes

Kansas: Lee Myers

Lawrence Missouri: Dan Adams

Kansas: Nate Williams

Lawrence Missouri: Richard Plattner

Kansas: James Myers

Lawrence Missouri: Jeremy Martin

Kansas: Bill Freund

Shawnee Mission North Missouri: Rob Seeley