Smith-Cotton High School senior Samuel Wright is the 2025-26 recipient of the Mark Johnson Academic Achievement Scholarship.

Wright was a starter at linebacker for the S-C football team and an Academic All-State honoree. The annual scholarship, provided by former S-C coach Johnson and his family, awards $500 to a S-C football player who is a full-time starter his senior year

Recipients are also required to have played four years of football for Smith-Cotton High School, have a 3.7 grade-point average or higher at the end of their junior year, and never have been suspended for using illegal drugs, alcohol, or tobacco.

Wright’s name will be engraved on a plaque that is displayed in the S-C gymnasium. The scholarship, which will be funded by the Johnson family through 2043, was awarded for the first time at the end of the 2013 season, which was Johnson’s final year leading the Tigers football team.