Amareyia Knighton, a two-sport student-athlete, is ITG Next’s 2025 Colquitt County High School Female Athlete of the Year, presented by Vereen Sports Medicine.
She excelled as a do-it-all athlete for head coach Kirk Woodall’s flag football team and as a member of the girls basketball squad, coached by Stephanie Cody.
Knighton received quite a bit of recognition for both teams.
For her accomplishments as a key member of the Packers flag football squad in 2024, Knighton was named Colquitt County’s Player of the Year, was an All-State selection for the second time, was recognized as the Area Player of the Year, and was named the state’s All-Classification Defensive Player of the Year.
“She is one of the best athletes and pure football players I’ve ever seen, boy or girl,” said Woodall, who also serves as an assistant coach on Colquitt County’s football team. “She is strong and fast, a true sideline-to-sideline player.”
In 2024 Knighton helped Colquitt County to the flag football area championship for the second straight year.
Knighton ended her senior season with 13 touchdowns while racking up over 1,000 yards of total offense. She had 147 tackles/flag pulls with 14 tackles for loss, including eight sacks. She also had seven interceptions.
Her accomplishments have earned her a full scholarship to Brewton Parker College, according to Woodall. He said that after talking with the Baron flag football coaches, it sounds like they are expecting great things from Knighton.
“They want her to direct the defense as a middle linebacker because she’s such a talented defensive player, but with her offensive skills, they are going to teach her to play receiver and use her in some receiver packages on offense as well,” Woodall said. “She can honestly play anywhere. She’s the best flag football player I’ve ever coached.”
Cody was equally impressed by and complimentary of Knighton’s skills as a shooting guard for the girls basketball team.
“I have been fortunate to have coached Amareyia for her entire high school career, and it’s been amazing to see her growth year after year,” Cody said. “She is the complete player. She can take the ball to the basket as easily as she can step back and shoot the 3.”
Knighton accomplished quite a scoring milestone this past basketball season, eclipsing the 1,000-point career mark. She ended up with a career total of 1,302 points, according to Cody.
“She averaged 12.6 points per game this past season and averaged five rebounds per game,” Cody said.
Cody said she’s not sure if Knighton will attempt to play basketball in addition to flag football at Brewton Parker, but that Knighton could probably do both if she wanted to.
“If she is asked to play basketball, I’m sure she’ll say yes,” Cody said.
Congratulations to Amareyia Knighton, ITG Next’s 2025 Colquitt County High School Female Athlete of the Year, presented by Vereen Sports Medicine.
