Wheeler High School Shooting Guard Ricky McKenzie Named ITG Next Georgia Male Athlete of the Month for January 2024
Congratulations to Wheeler High School boys basketball player Ricky McKenzie, who has been named our January 2024 ITG Next Georgia Male Athlete of the Month, presented by Georgia Farm Bureau Insurance.
McKenzie was one of four Georgia high school athletes nominated for the award. Other nominees chosen for consideration were Will Moore, a senior guard on the West Forsyth High School basketball team; Bradley Peterson, a junior wrestler at Camden County High School; and Ahmad Clark, a senior basketball player at Grayson High School.
Followers of ITG Next get to vote each month for the athlete they think is most deserving of the award, and this month McKenzie, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, received the largest percentage of votes to take home the honor.
McKenzie’s achievements this season include scoring his team’s final 10 points in a big 79-49 win against Norcross and reaching 1,000 points in his high school career earlier this season.
He has helped lead Wheeler, currently No. 5 in our boys basketball top 25 rankings, to a 15-5 record so far in the 2023-2024 season. In addition to coming up big in the win over Norcross, McKenzie led Wheeler with 20 points in a 64-59 win over Langston Hughes in the Grayson Hoops New Year’s Classic Tournament. In the win, McKenzie hit three 3-pointers and got to the foul line seven times, proving that he can do whatever it takes to generate points for his team.
Last year he was a key part of Wheeler’s 2023 state championship run as one of the starting five that led Wheeler to a 26-6 season and the 78-58 state title win over Cherokee.
McKenzie is solid on and off the court, as his 3.3 GPA in the classroom will attest.
Wheeler boys basketball head coach Larry Thompson described the qualities that separate McKenzie from the rest of the pack.
“Ricky is unique because of his will to be good or get better,” Thompson said. “He came in last season and had to work for his minutes behind a really talented 2023 class. His willingness to work and get better is what makes him such an intriguing prospect.”
According to Thompson, McKenzie’s deadly accurate shooting, especially from behind the 3-point line, is another quality that makes the senior guard one to watch.
“Ricky’s shooting abilities and scoring prowess makes him one of the best wings in the state,” Thompson said.
McKenzie was recently recognized by the Atlanta Tipoff Club as one of Metro Atlanta’s Top 40 high school boys basketball players in their late season list.
McKenzie will continue his basketball career at the collegiate level with Kennesaw State University, where he committed to last season.
