One of the NFL’s fast-rising young stars is returning home to headline the annual Times Free Press Best of Preps awards banquet this summer.
Los Angeles Chargers receiver Ladd McConkey, a former North Murray High School and University of Georgia standout who is rated one of pro football’s top 100 players, will be the featured speaker for the June 18 event at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium in downtown Chattanooga.
McConkey, who helped lead Georgia to back-to-back College Football Playoff national championships in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, was a second-round selection in the 2024 NFL draft and was voted by fellow players as one of the top 100 in the league entering the 2025 season.
“We are really excited to host Ladd McConkey as our featured speaker for this year’s Best of Preps awards banquet,” said Mark Jones, vice president of marketing and operations at the Times Free Press. “His amazing journey from playing high school football here in our area, to winning national titles at Georgia and now as a key contributor to the Chargers is a testament to hard work paying off.
“It’s great to bring professional athletes who started right here as a Best of Preps honoree. It shows all of our regional student-athletes that their path to success can start right here.”
It is the second straight year a former Best of Preps athlete will be the featured speaker, with former Bradley Central and current WNBA star Rhyne Howard having highlighted last year’s banquet. It is also the second year for the event to be held at the Memorial Auditorium, where an opening reception will be followed by the awards presentation.
(READ MORE: Dunning, Cook, Dunfee highlight Best of Preps award winners)
Tickets will be available at bestofprepschatt.com beginning May 3.
Staff photo / North Murray’s Ladd McConkey returns an interception for a touchdown during a home game against Monroe Area in the GHSA Class AAA playoffs on Nov. 15, 2019.
McConkey was one of six finalists for Scrappy Moore Male Athlete of the Year at the 2020 Best of Preps banquet after helping lead North Murray to its first region championship in football, a season that included included the program’s first win over area and GHSA powerhouse Calhoun.
In his prep football career, McConkey played quarterback, running back, receiver and defensive back while also returning kicks and punts for coach Preston Poag’s Mountaineers. A multisport athlete, he accounted for 36 touchdowns and compiled more than 3,000 all-purpose yards in his senior football season before helping the Mountaineers basketball team to a 21-win season by averaging 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists per game.
“It’s awesome to be able to come back to the area, and I’m excited to celebrate the kids and what they’ve accomplished,” said McConkey, whose No. 15 jersey was retired by North Murray in 2023. “They deserve to be recognized.
“I spend my offseason back home in Georgia. It’s where my family is, my home. I definitely still keep up with what’s going on back home and at Georgia. I talk to Coach Poag and other coaches that I’m still close to, and they keep me posted on what’s happening.”
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Georgia was the first power conference program that made an offer to the Chatsworth native, with Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart taking in one of McConkey’s basketball games before an in-home visit. After redshirting his first year in Athens and beginning on the Bulldogs’ scout team, he worked his way into playing time and went on to catch five touchdown passes and rush for another score in 2021, becoming a starter for the final seven games of the season.
He went on to total 1,687 receiving yards (averaging 14.1 per catch) at Georgia while adding 218 rushing yards and scoring 18 total touchdowns.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Georgia receiver Ladd McConkey scores a touchdown during a home game against SEC border rival Tennessee at Sanford Stadium in Athens on Nov. 5, 2022.
The No. 34 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, he set a franchise rookie record with 82 catches for 1,149 receiving yards and scored seven touchdowns that year, and McConkey was described last season by Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh as “uncoverable” in one-on-one situations.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert said of McConkey last fall, “He’s the perfect combination of athleticism and intelligence.”
McConkey finished last season with 789 yards and six touchdowns, and he has helped the Chargers reach the playoffs in each of his two seasons.
“The biggest message I want to pass along to the athletes is to just believe in yourself,” said McConkey, who graduated from Georgia in 2023 with a degree in finance. “I was a three-star (prospect) in high school who didn’t get recruited at all until my senior year. I just wanted an opportunity, so I kept my head down and kept grinding until it came.
“Then when I committed to Georgia, so many people asked why since they didn’t think it would work out for me there. I was going against a lot of guys who were five-stars and future first-rounders, so it may not happen overnight. Hopefully I can be an inspiration that it can be done if you believe and work for it.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com.