St. Thomas Aquinas’ King Mack is Broward 4M-3M Football Defensive Player of the Year
When safety King Mack transferred to St. Thomas Aquinas after his freshman year at Dillard High, it didn’t take him long to realize what he was getting himself into.
“St. Thomas was a new change for me,” Mack said this preseason.
“Don’t get me wrong, Dillard was a great program, but when I got to St. Thomas, you saw the difference between a highly developed program and a program that’s slowly starting to come up. You come to this place and you have standards. Fully shaved, hair not past your ears, dressed to code a certain way, things even off the field that prepare you to be a successful person. You come here and you wonder why they have all these state championships. They have a standard and it’s a standard you have to follow to get the results which eventually come.”
After three seasons as part of the Raiders football team, Mack leaves having etched his name as part of that long-standing success St. Thomas Aquinas has built on the football field.
It’s in part why he is the Miami Herald’s 2022 Broward 4M-3M Defensive Player of the Year.
Mack helped St. Thomas Aquinas win state titles each of his three years at the school, bringing the Raiders’ current run to a school record four consecutive titles and a state-record 14 titles overall.
He did a little bit of everything this season and cemented himself as one of the top safeties recruits in the country — living up to his four-star billing and listing as the No. 8 safety and No. 112 recruit in the country in the Class of 2023, according to the 247Sports composite ranking.
Mack’s final stats from his senior year: 50 tackles, two tackles for loss, nine passes defended, one interception (that was returned for a touchdown), three blocked kicks, two kickoffs returned for touchdowns, two punts returned for touchdowns and, for good measure, one rushing touchdown on one of the two carries he had this season.
In the Class 3M state championship, a 38-21 win over Homestead, Mack recorded five tackles, broke up two passes and returned a third quarter punt 58 yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders a 14-7 lead. They never trailed after that point and were well on their way to capping a perfect 14-0 season.
Overall, in three years at St. Thomas Aquinas, Mack tallied 121 tackles, 13 defended passes and five interceptions. The Raiders went 36-2 in that span, including winning each of their past 27 games.
Next up, Mack is heading to Penn State. He committed to the Nittany Lions before his senior season.