WHITEHALL — In football, Trannon Aylor is a big play waiting to happen. In basketball, he’s a dangerous wing who can have a breakout game on any given night. In track, Aylor is a state champion in the 400-meter dash.
In school, the Whitehall High School senior upholds a GPA nearing 4.0. Recently, he received a Scholar-Athlete Award during the Great American Rivalry Series football game against Montague.
Is there anything that Aylor cannot do?
One thing he won’t do is brag. He’s one of the more humble student-athletes you’re going to meet. Those around Aylor have plenty of good things to say, however.
“Trannon’s a fantastic football player. He’s made some really big catches for us and some really big blocks for us. He’s a two-way starter. I mean, you can’t say enough about him,” Whitehall football coach Tony Sigmon said about Aylor, 18, the youngest of Jennie and Matthew Aylor’s five children.
“He ended up being a scholarship recipient against Montague and he was very well-deserving of that. He’s a kid with one of the highest GPAs on the team. Just a lot of great things about him. Football’s a big part to him and what makes him special for us, too.”
Photos by Scott DeCamp | CatchMark
Aylor is a threat to go the distance any given play on the football field for a dominant Whitehall team that is 7-0 this season, ranked No. 1 in Division 4, and has outscored opponents by a whopping 311-63 margin. The Vikings have won 16 straight regular-season games dating back to last season.
As a receiver, the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Aylor averages 25 yards per catch and leads the team with 24 total receptions for 598 yards and eight touchdowns. Last fall, he finished with 20 catches for 583 yards (30 yards per catch) with 11 TDs en route to earning first-team All-West Michigan Conference Lakes Division honors.
Defensively, Aylor is one of Whitehall’s top tacklers this season with 24 solos and 26 assists plus an interception from his free safety spot.
Aylor’s also a dangerous return man. He put those skills on display in last Friday’s 48-0 win at Ludington with an 80-yard punt return for a TD for the first score of the game.
On the track, Aylor is smooth-striding and fast. Last spring, he captured the 400-meter dash state championship for Division 2 with a personal-record time of 48.83 seconds. During his sophomore track season, he was a member of Whitehall’s state champion 4×200 relay team.
None of this success surprises Sigmon, who can vouch for Aylor’s work ethic.
“He’s quite a specimen in the weight room, for starters, because he’s a person that is pound-for-pound one of our strongest kids and then to see what he does with his speed is pretty special,” Sigmon said about Aylor, who is considering football and/or track in college.
“He just looks different and that’s something that’s partly genetics but then a big part is his work ethic. He’s done a really nice job of really developing himself into being a great athlete, not just for football but for the other sports he plays.”
Photo by Courtney Jimison | CatchMark
