Rivals names Notre Dame QB signee Noah Grubbs Florida high school football player of the year

A day after leading Lake Mary (Fla.) High to an improbable Florida 7A state championship triumph, Notre Dame quarterback signee Noah Grubbs was named Rivals’ Florida high school football Player of the Year.

Rivals national high school sports reporter Andy Villamarzo gave Grubbs the honor.

“We might’ve overlooked Grubbs, the future Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback, when it came to Gatorade Player of the Candidates, but after Saturday night’s performance in the FHSAA Class 7A state championship game, who else could honestly take home this pick?” wrote Villamarzo.

“The Lake Mary senior quarterback led his team back from a 27-11 deficit in the third quarter of the state title game and finished with 333 yards and three touchdowns. For the season, Grubbs finished completing 233 of 401 passes for 3,235 yards and 40 touchdowns.

“The reason for going with Grubbs is how the season had its ups and downs, but the senior was the glue in keeping the Rams competitive throughout. The Player of the Year personifies the one athlete a team can’t do without and at Lake Mary, without Grubbs, the Rams would have a tough time making a deep playoff run.”

With just a few seconds remaining in the state title game against Vero Beach (Fla.) High, down 27-21, Grubbs tossed a Hail Mary pass that was tipped by a Vero Beach defender, caught by Florida International wide receiver signee Barrett Schultz, and lateraled to 2028 receiver Tavarius Brundidge, who scored to give Lake Mary the win after a successful extra point attempt.

And with that, Grubbs ended his incredible high school career capped off with a state championship.

When his stats are input for the state title game and records are compiled by the Lake Mary staff, Blue & Gold will publish an article looking at Grubbs’ prep career and the records he broke.

It should be noted that Grubbs is the lone Power Four conference recruit on the Lake Mary squad.

He’s ranked as the No. 405 overall player and No. 28 quarterback per the 2026 Rivals Industry Ranking. While he’s a three-star prospect, his performance in leading Lake Mary to a state championship in Florida’s highest classification — capped by a viral last-second finish — will likely force rankings evaluators to give him another hard look.

Grubbs set the following Lake Mary school records as a sophomore in 2023: single-game passing touchdowns (8), single-game passing yardage (528), single-season passing touchdowns (49), single-season passing yards (3,677), most passes completed in a single game (31), single-season completions (207) and attempts (356) and is the school’s all-time leader in average yards per game (306.4).