By Robert Wilson
Jackson Academy’s Carson Caraway continued the rich tradition of Raider athletes winning a Mississippi Gatorade Player Of the Year award Friday when she received the prestigious honor as she was recognized as the top volleyball player in the state.
The 6-foot-2 junior outside hitter and Loyola Marymount commitment became the fifth JA volleyball player and tenth Raider athlete to win a Mississippi Gatorade award.
Caraway is the second JA athlete to win a Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year award this school year after JA senior linebacker and Tennessee signee TJ White received the football honor.
Other volleyball winners at JA are Kaylee Lowther (2023), Lakin Laurendine (2021 and 2022), Parker Bracken (2020 and 2021) and Conley Chinn (2016). JA has won two in cross country (Curt Knight in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons) and one each in baseball (Dakota Jordan 2021-2022) and boys soccer (Emery Thigpen in 2020-2021).
JA now has had 12 Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year winners in the past 13 years. No school in Mississippi has had more in that time period.
Caraway had 625 kills, 343 digs, 84 aces, and 54 blocks with a .594 kill percentage and a .474 hitting percentage and led JA to a 32-9-1 record and a MAIS Class 4A Division I state runner-up finish. She is an American Volleyball Coaches Association third-team All-America selection and also the 2025 PrepDig.com Mississippi Breakout Player of the Year. Caraway has 1,836 kills and 1,056 digs in her high school volleyball career.
Caraway, who has maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom, is the winner of the 2025 Jackson Academy Art Appreciation Award. She is a member of her school’s National Honor Society and French Honor Society. She has volunteered locally with the JA Interact Club and as a middle school tutor. Caraway has also donated her time at school for children with disabilities and as a youth volleyball coach.
“We are so incredibly proud of Carson for being named Gatorade Player of the Year,” said JA coach Melissa Denson, who has had six Mississippi Gatorade winners in eight seasons at JA. “Carson represents everything Gatorade, Jackson Academy and JA Volleyball stand for. She’s the true definition of a student-athlete and has a heart for her community. Carson joins previous players that received this award and that she looked up to for so many years (Parker, Lakin and Kaylee). She had another standout year. Her growth from last year to this year has been tremendous in every category of her play. What makes Carson so special as an athlete is her versatility to swing from either pin and the back row. Our setters spread the ball well offensively, and her numbers to be where they are is impressive. She’s physical and has a heavy arm. Her ball control and defense improved tremendously this year. Carson is of the highest integrity and has a servant heart. She makes a difference on our campus in the lives of her peers and is a role model for the younger girls. They absolutely adore her because she takes time to invest in them. Our program and school couldn’t be more proud of her.”
“When I started to get into volleyball, I walked past the Gatorade banners every day in the gym,” Caraway said. “Every time I walked past them, I knew that it was something I wanted to work towards and maybe achieve one day. With JA having two Gatorade Player of the Year awards this year, I think that is a great reflection of what this school is and what opportunities it can create for us. I’ve been at JA since pre-k, and I truly wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. All of our programs have a lot of depth and great athletes, but most of all we have good people. My teammates have pushed me the whole season to be the best that I can be, and I truly believe that I wouldn’t be able to reach my goals without them.”
“Carson represents everything this award stands for – character, dedication, and excellence,” JA athletic director Brandt Walker said. “She is a great young woman, a relentless worker, and fully deserving of being named Gatorade Player of the Year. We are incredibly proud that she represents Jackson Academy and leads by example both on and off the court.”
“Carson is an amazing teammate,” JA senior right side and Itawamba Community College signee Kinsey Williams said. “Regardless if she is having a good or bad day, she is always the first person to cheer you on. She’s the teammate that you want to be better for and that pushes you to be better. Carson is the hardest working, most dedicated, and most uplifting person I’ve ever played with. She truly pours her heat and soul into volleyball. Whether that’s by putting in the extra reps or giving back to the sport through coaching.”
“Carson is a super fun teammate and is always hyping us up,” JA junior Libero Anna Holladay Craft said. “She is very reliable and is able to score when we need her to. She is constantly talking and helps lead our team. Carson is deserving of the Gatorade Player of the Year because of all the hard work she puts in. Even when we are on break, she is constantly getting reps in the gym. Carson is someone who is easy to play with. She makes a difference on our team whether it’s scoring or cheering the rest of us on even when she isn’t playing great.”
“Carson has been a blessing and a curse to me,” said Madison-Ridgeland Academy volleyball coach Ross Dorr, whose team defeated JA for the state championship. “On a personal level, she is a wonderful young lady on and off the court and my daughter (Emerson) is blessed to have her as a teammate during club ball. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her humble, gracious, and kind nature. The curse is having to play one of the best hitters not just in the MAIS but the entire state. It’s compounded by her being a crosstown rival and on a team we have played the last four years in the championship game. I’m happy for her and the Caraway family to receive this honor but I also know she put in the work to achieve it.”
Caraway is the daughter of Ricky and Lauren Caraway. Ricky played baseball at Terry High and Copiah-Lincoln Community College and graduated from Mississippi State. Lauren graduated from Hillcrest Christian School, Ole Miss and University of Mississippi Medical Center. Caraway’s brother, Cole, is in the eighth grade at JA and runs cross country and plays soccer and plays soccer for Mississippi Rush.
