We were in Hollywood last night to attend the 2012 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year award ceremony. Johnathan Gray, a football player from Aledo High School in Texas, and Breanna Stewart, a basketball player from Cicero-North Syracuse High School in New York, both won the 2012 Athlete of the Year honors from among this impressive group of high school athletes:

GIRLS
Jordan Burgess – Volleyball
Molly Seidel – Cross Country
Breanna Stewart – Basketball
Morgan Andrews – Soccer
Geri Ann Glasco – Softball
Shelbi Vaughan – Track & Field

BOYS
Johnathan Gray – Football
Futsum Zeinasellassie – Cross Country
Jabari Parker – Basketball
Ema Boateng – Soccer
Lance McCullers Jr. – Baseball
Abraham Hall – Track & Field

You’ll be seeing many of these kids in the years to come on SportsCenter. Johnathan Gray is an amazing running back who will be playing for the Texas Longhorns this coming season. In his senior season of high school, he rushed for 3,891 yards on 346 attempts for a rushing average of 11.2 yards per carry. Even more impressively, he rushed for 65 touchdowns!! Needless to say the Texas running game will be getting a nice boost for the next several years.

Breanna Stewart is a 6′ 4″ basketball player who will join the parade of amazing players Geno Auriemma assembles from year to year at UConn. She has also played on the USA Basketball teams for three years, helping each team win a Gold Medal.

All of the kids were very impressive, but Jabari Parker also jumps out as a kid to watch. He was only a junior in high school last season so it’s highly likely Gatorade will be bringing him back again next year. Right now he’s the #1 recruit in the country according to most scouting services and every college basketball powerhouse is drooling at the opportunity to bring in this 6′ 8″ talent. Many are calling him the best young talent since LeBron James.

We had the opportunity to speak with all three players and they all came across as great kids. Each of them emphasized the need to keep working hard to improve their games at the next level. I asked Johnathan Gray about some of the running backs he looked up to, and he mentioned LeSean McCoy, LaDainian Tomlinson, Frank Gore and Adrian Peterson. I also asked him about his patience running behind a great offensive line, and Jonathan responded with a great line, saying that running backs should be “slow to it, fast through it” when waiting for the hole to open up.

Check back as we’ll be posting our interviews with Jabari Parker and Breanna Stewart as well.

The award show was also very entertaining, with ESPN’s Stewart Scott hosting the show that included some great presenters, including Robert Griffin III, Alonzo Mourning, Landon Donovan, Lisa Leslie and Brandi Chastian among other notable athletes. Mourning is a former winner of the award, which has prestigious names like Derek Jeter, Lebron James and Peyton Manning among the many winners since 1985. Mourning stressed education in his remarks and in our interview with him afterwards. The beauty of this award is that it takes more than just athletic accomplishments into account. All of these kids excel in the classroom as well.

Along with Zo, we were able to interview Landon Donovan as well and had him size up the state of Team USA as they prepare for the 2014 World Cup and we sat in with an interview session with RG3 as well. Check back as we’ll also be posting these interviews.

It was a great evening as we caught a preview of some of the athletes who will likely be dominating the sports headlines in the years to come.

It’s been a crazy NBA season, but we really shouldn’t be surprised. With little preparation after the chaotic NBA lockout, few people expected solid play around the league. But coming off of last night’s All-Star Game, there are plenty of storylines for the second half of the season.

The Miami Heat are certainly getting plenty of attention. Despite his errant pass last night that ultimately decided the game, LeBron James is having another monster season. Naturally, the pundits who are only capable of living in the moment have made their proclamations of how LeBron James is again proving he’s the best player in the NBA, yet the rest of us know that regular season stats mean nothing. In the end, James needs to prove that he can perform when an NBA title is on the line. Plain and simple, he choked last year, and nothing will help him overcome that until he actually contributes to an NBA championship.

The biggest story, of course, has been Jeremy Lin. The NBA betting lines regarding the New York Knicks have been all over the place, as this team started by underachieving, and the Lin came along and sparked a remarkable winning streak. That said, Lin was exposed a little against Miami as he really needs to work on his defense, but he’s still an amazing story and has real talent.

Lin might not be the best new talent in the league, however, as Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving has been dazzling onlookers all year long and then put on a show during All-Star weekend.

Then we have all the possible trades, as the make-up of many teams will hinge on what happens with Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol.

In the end, this all might come down to a battle of superstars again in the Finals, as Kevin Durant seems poised to stake his claim as one of the NBA great.

It should be fun to watch.