It’s time to vote for the Detroit Free Press Buffalo Wild Wings Boys Prep Athlete of the Season.
This week’s poll features five players – four basketball and one football – who were some of our highest votegetters from the 2025-2026 high school sports season.
Voting will close at 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 2.
Here are the nominees (listed in alphabetical order by last name):
Keandre Burtin, Warren Fitzgerald, basketball
Burtin won the Feb. 1-7 campaign after he averaged a double-double in a three-game stretch for Fitzgerald against Utica Eisenhower, Macomb L’Anse Creuse and Kalamazoo Central. This past season, Burtin averaged 13 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks a game for the Spartans and led the team to a regional championship appearance and a district title for the first time in 22 years. He earned the Free Press’s Division 1 third-team All-State honors.
Kameren Higginbotham, Center Line, basketball
Higginbotham won the Jan. 18-24 campaign in a close race that saw him win by roughly 3% of the vote. The graduating senior won the Macomb Athletic Conference Silver Division Most Valuable Player honors and averaged 19.9 points, five assists and four steals.
Jakobe Liford, Auburn Hills Avondale, basketball
Liford was the engine for what became a historic season for Avondale. The Yellow Jackets finished with a regular season record of 23-1 and advanced to the state semifinals for the first in 25 years. Liford averaged 15 points per game along with 7.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.4 steals this season and made the Free Press’s Division 1 All-State first team.
Joe Smith, Williamston, football
Smith was the winner of the Oct. 26-Nov. 1 campaign during the opening round of the MHSAA football playoffs, in which he and Williamston defeated Lansing Sexton, 47-6, on Oct. 31. Smith finished his senior season with 1,085 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns on 163 carries.
Alan Spahic, Troy Athens, basketball
Spahic was the winner of the Jan. 25-31 campaign following a 29-point, 10-rebound double-double in Troy Athens’ 70-43 victory over Royal Oak. The rising senior averaged 16 points, 8.7 rebounds and tallied 21 blocks.
Editor’s Note: We reserve the right to disqualify a candidate or declare a vote “no contest” if tampering such as bots or offering to pay for voting is evident. Please respect the integrity of the vote the way these athletes respect the integrity of the game.
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Eric Guzmán covers youth sports culture at the Free Press as a corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support this work.
Contact Eric Guzmán: eguzman@freepress.com; 313-222-1850.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Vote for the Freep Buffalo Wild Wings Boys Prep Athlete of the Season
Reporting by Eric Guzmán, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Eric Guzmán, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
