Brother Martin Football/Track & Field
Easton Royal, a star football player and sprinter for Brother Martin High School, was selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s James J. Corbett Memorial Award winner as the top non-professional male athlete in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, selects annual award winners in a variety of categories; it also selects Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month and each year’s New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame class.
Royal is just the third high school athlete in the history of the award to be selected. He joins pole vault legend Armando Duplantis (2017-18) and football superstar Leonard Fournette (2013-14) as the only high schoolers to be recognized.
“I’m staying as humble as possible because God has blessed me with this ability,” Royal said after being notified that he won the Corbett Award. “As they say, ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ So I’m doing the best I can; I don’t want to be hated, I want to be liked. No matter what, in the process, some people won’t like you, but if the majority like you then you’re doing something right.”
Royal, considered the No. 1 wide receiver in the nation in the Class of 2027, had a sensational junior season for the Crusader football team. He earned first-team all-state and all-metro honors after recording 59 catches for 1,219 receiving yards to go with 219 rushing yards. His 20 total touchdowns included 15 on receptions, three on rushes, one on a punt return and one on a TD pass on a trick play.
He credits his mom for much of his success.
“My mom has been my biggest influence,” he said. “She’s been a single mom with three boys, and she motivates me to be great. I’ve seen her go through it all and she has always stayed strong for us. I don’t want her to have to work again.”
He opened the 2026 season by leading the Crusaders to four straight wins as he was named the Sugar Bowl Athlete of the Month for September. His biggest game came on Sept. 12 when he had nine receptions for 254 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-27 win over St. Paul's – his TD catches went for 11 yards, 73 yards, and 81 yards and he also threw for a six-yard touchdown. Brother Martin fell in the second round of the playoffs to close the 2025 season with a 7-5 record.
He capped off his 2025-26 year by winning the state championship in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.17 seconds to break the composite state record that had stood since 1980.
“This track season was about redemption after I lost in the state championship last year,” Royal said. “This year, it wasn’t just an opportunity, it was mandatory that I win, it was expected.”
The 5-11, 205-pounder also won the 200-meter dash and anchored the winning 4x100 relay team. Earlier in the month of May, Royal posted a 10.2 in the 100 meters and helped the Crusaders set a school record at 41.34 seconds in the 4x100 relay.
The Sugar Bowl also conducted a fan vote for its annual awards and the male Corbett Award winner was Lane Fenske from the LSU Eunice baseball team. Fenske had a historic first year on the Cajun Prairie, tying the single season wins mark with his 15-0 record, which was also the second most in the nation this season, while leading the Bengals to the Division I Junior College World Series.
The other finalists for the male Corbett Award were Richard Anderson (Edna Karr Football) and Mansoor Delane (LSU Football). Anderson, the No. 1 rated defensive lineman in the country for this past year, led a dominant defense that paced the Cougars’ undefeated state championship team. Delane was named a first-team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America after tallying 45 tackles and leading the SEC in passes defended (13) and passes broken up (11) while not allowing a passing touchdown all season.
The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee came together when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month and a variety of annual award winners. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top athlete in the New Orleans area each month as well as a range of annual awards – the honors enter their 70th year in 2026.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 29 national champions, 114 Hall of Fame players, 55 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 92-year history. The 93rd Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will serve as a College Football Playoff Semifinal, will be played on January 15, 2027. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.6 billion into the local economy in the last decade.
-www.AllstateSugarBowl.org-
