Hastings QB Whyrick wins Offensive MVP at Top 200 National Showcase

HASTINGS, Neb. (KSNB) - Hastings rising junior quarterback Johnny Whyrick is in the midst of a hectic offseason.

With summer camps and 7-on-7 tournaments taking over the summer, Whyrick traveled to East Rutherford, New Jersey, to participate in the Top 200 National Football Showcase being held at MetLife Stadium — home of the New York Giants and New York Jets.

Whyrick’s team placed second in the tournament, but he won overall offensive MVP for his efforts.

“Honestly, I didn’t know there was a MVP,” Whyrick said. “We went in hoping to do as well as we could, so it was pretty good. But, no, I didn’t expect me to win MVP. There was a lot of really good guys there, a lot of great talent. At the end of the day, just performed as hard as I could and ended up bringing it home.”

The camp gave Whyrick an opportunity to compete against elite talent from nearly 30 different states, giving him confidence in his ability’s entering his junior year.

“It’s nice to know, now going into the season, I can go somewhere,” Whyrick said. “I have the potential to do something. Now I’ve just got to go work for it and get better at it. Being able to know I got the MVP, that was like, ‘Oh man, I actually am kind of good. I can go somewhere with this.’ Now it’s just putting in the work and doing everything I can to get there.”

Talent has never been a question with Whyrick, according to his teammate and Hastings senior tight end Joe Rodriguez.

“He’s got a big arm,” Rodriguez said. “He’s super talented. He’s a big kid. Going to these camps, you kind of expect him to do something and MVP, he’s a competitor, so I expect him to go out there and earn those type of awards.”

Most of all, Whyrick said being able to represent Nebraska in a NFL stadium was a unique experience.

“No one was from Nebraska,” he said. “I didn’t know anybody, so it was just cool getting MVP, getting one of the highest honors you could at that camp for offense and just knowing I was from a small town in Nebraska. No one really knows where that is and I got it, so that was pretty cool.”

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