By: Jason Kullman – June 19, 2023

Diamond Prospects is excited to, once again, be able to celebrate the All-Academic Team and award one student-athlete as the Tripp Rabon Scholar Athlete of the Year. At DP we spend much of our time chasing physical tools, but as we do each year, we want to honor these young men that take care of business in the classroom too! Thank you to each high school coach and guidance counselor that nominated players with a premium GPA, SAT/ACT and class rank from their school/team.

In 2016 the DP Scholar Athlete of the year award was renamed the Tripp Rabon Scholar Athlete Award in honor of Tripp Rabon (pictured) of Summerville. Tripp left us far too soon due to a car accident in December of 2015. He was an amazing young man who left a mark on everyone he came across both on the field and off. His success in the classroom was also well-documented and led DP to name the award after him. NEW! The Rabon family recently contacted DP and has now set up the Inaugural Tripp Rabon Scholarship Fund to honor their son’s memory, our winner will now be the recipient of a $1,000 check for their classwork exploits!

Since our first All-Academic Team in 2007, Furman and Clemson have both received commitments from four Tripp Rabon Scholar Athletes. South Carolina, The Citadel, Wofford, Newberry and Coastal Carolina are the other schools to have signed recipients of the award in the past. These colleges have focused on not just the best on the field but the brightest off of it.

Now it is time to reveal who this year’s Tripp Rabon Scholar Athlete is, along with the entire 2023 DP All-Academic Team…

-DP’s Tripp Rabon Scholar Athlete of the Year- 

Rush Sheppard – Greenville High School, Wofford College – Class of 2023: Diamond Prospects is excited to announce Rush Sheppard as the 2023 Tripp Rabon Scholar Athlete of the Year. Rush excelled both on and off the field during his time at Greenville HS, earning All-Region honors this spring following an injury-plagued sophomore and junior seasons. But the reason Shepherd is being honored on this page is for his prowess in the classroom throughout his high school career sporting a 5.36 weighted GPA and scored 1400 on the SAT. While attending Palmetto Boys State is an honor, Sheppard walked away with the highly-distinguished Citizen Award in 2022, which allowed him to be a Junior Counselor at this June’s event. There’s even more on the resume: Wofford Scholar, JF Lucas Red Raider Spirit Award, Highest Math ACT at GHS, Economics Student of the Year and for good measure, a Palmetto Fellows Scholarship. Sheppard is the second Tripp Rabon winner to attend Wofford (Taylor Rozier, 2009) for his career path.

Once again, congratulations to Rush Sheppard on winning the award and for becoming the first recipient of the Tripp Rabon Scholarship gift from the Rabon family! 

Now, it’s time for DP’s unveiling of the entire 2023 All-Academic team. Congratulations to all the deserving players who continue to put hard work in on the diamond, while simultaneously excelling in the classroom. 

2023 All-Academic Team

Name	School	Grad Yr	GPA	SAT	ACT	Class Rank
Chase Staley	Spartanburg	Sr	5.10	1360	–	9
Chas Welch	Dorman	Sr	4.82	–	–	85
Charlie Marchbanks	Riverside	Jr	5.13	1340	25	24
Luke Westrol	Riverside	Jr	4.78	1320	30	70
Dru Nelson	Riverside	Jr	4.74	1050	–	74
James Kakaras	Riverside	Jr	4.65	1130	–	94
Dylan Willis	Riverside	Sr	4.55	1140	–	134
Braxton Paxton	Easley	Jr	3.96	–	–	27
Connor Hamby	Easley	Jr	3.89	–	–	44
*Gavin Harvey	Easley	Sr	3.88	–	–	32
Kaleb Owens	Easley	Jr	3.84	–	–	57
Malcolm Webb	Beaufort	Jr	5.01	1310	–	7
Nathan Wrigley	Cane Bay	Sr	5.14	1340	–	11
Bryson Nuckols	North Augusta	Sr	5.11	1200	–	14
Bre’Yon Burgess	Lake City	Sr	3.76	–	–	–
Octavian McKnight	Lake City	Sr	3.85	–	–	–
Hayden Johnson	Socastee	Sr	4.91	1080	–	35
Austin Lloyd	Gray Collegiate	Sr	4.92	–	–	25
*Jackson McCoy	Carolina Forest	Sr	4.95	–	22	27/559
Brad Wohlers	Carolina Forest	Sr	4.09	1100	21	174/559
*Josh Watson	Carolina Forest	Sr	3.96	890	–	214/559
Nolan Alexander	Carolina Forest	Jr	4.84	1140	–	27/654
Max Stefanchik	Carolina Forest	Sr	4.46	1230	–	101/559
*Andrew Buffkin	Carolina Forest	Sr	4.07	1240	18	180/559
*Bryson Butler	Carolina Forest	Sr	4.13	–	28	163/559
Evan Moon	Powdersville	Jr,	4.80	1270	24	48/217
Wyatt Lunsford	Dorman	Jr	5.17	1260	–	–
Campbell Whitener	Dorman	Jr	4.95	1290	–	–
Josh Brown	Dorman	Jr	4.75	1070	–	–
Mitchell Powell	Dorman	Jr	4.8	1040	–	–
Mitch Wilson	Dorman	Jr	4.72	1110	–	–
Clay Crossley	Dorman	Jr	4.61	–	16	–
Rush Sheppard	Greenville	Sr	5.32	1400	–	11/338
Cameron Barnhardt	Greenville	Sr	5.18	1380	–	26/338
Scott Hardy	Gilbert	Jr	5.06	1070	23	11/252
Eli Bearden	Emerald	Sr	3.85	–	–	76
Braxton Hill	Emerald	Sr	4.71	–	–	30
Tyler Rudd	Emerald	Sr	4.74	–	–	29
Calvin Henderson	Emerald	Sr	4.26	–	–	52
Bradlee Jones	Emerald	Sr	3.74	–	–	84
Christian Carruth	Emerald	Sr	4.05	–	–	49

*Denotes previous winner

DP Note I: Only Junior and Seniors were considered for the All-Academic Team.

DP Note II: SAT score is just Math and Verbal portions only. 

DP Note III: Special thanks to all the HS coaches who rounded up this academic info for their kids so that we could recognize them!

-Previous Winners- 

Year	Name	High School	College
2023	Rush Sheppard	Greenville	Wofford
2022	Aryan Patel	Hanahan	The Citadel
2021	Ben Freeman	Easley	Newberry
2020	Covid…	–	–
2019	Travis Lott	Stratford	The Citadel
2018	Bryce Cox	TL Hanna	Clemson
2017	Bo Taylor	South Pointe	Coastal Carolina
2016	Wilson Beattie	Summerville	South Carolina
2015	Chase Belk	Wilson Hall	Furman
2014	Matthew Bridges	Greenwood	Clemson
2013	Matthew Quarles	Emerald	Furman
2012	Weber Pike	Beaufort	South Carolina
2011	Patrick Andrews	Hilton Head Prep	Clemson
2010	Alex Abrams	Bishop England	Furman
2009	Taylor Rozier	North Augusta	Wofford
2008	David Haselden	Spartanburg	Clemson
2007	Brian Harrison	Hilton Head	Furman