By Dan Rasmussen, Deseret News Published: Monday, Nov. 15, 2010 10:38 p.m. MST
| Between last season and this season, Hurricane lost seven of its defensive starters.
All of them were stars.
Two of the seven — middle linebacker Ian Gates and defensive lineman Jeff Staples — were first-team All-State selections a year ago, another — outside linebacker Jaden Seely — was a second-team All-State selection and the other four all played indispensible roles on Hurricane's state-finalist team in 2009.
So when it came time to try and build another phenomenal defense this fall without them, Hurricane coach Chris Homer and his staff all recognized it was an unenviable challenge, to be sure.
But it was a challenge that Hurricane's current crop of defensive players all embraced.
Unfazed by the fact that many of their star teammates had departed, Hurricane's defenders went out and became stars in their own right — both individually and collectively.
With one notable exception — a perplexing loss to Cedar at the end of the regular season — the Tigers have been quite simply stellar on the defensive side of the ball.
Five players — DL Eric Canfield, MLB Taylor Frost, OLB Josh Bulloch, CB Trey Smith and S Taylor Parker — have stepped up enormously, and the Tigers have simply gone from defensive strength to defensive strength.
"I don't know that I was worried about the defense, but there were tons of question marks, especially when you look at who we lost," said Hurricane coach Chris Homer. "There were tons of question marks coming in to the season, but I think from the beginning of the season to the end of the season — if you take out the Cedar game — we've been really stellar."
'Stellar' would certainly describe Canfield, Frost, Bulloch, Smith and Parker.
In their own ways, they've all been huge parts of Hurricane's defense this fall.
Canfield is tough and physical and helps give the defense its signature; Frost has emerged as a leader in the middle of the field; Bulloch plays incredibly sound and smart from his OLD position; Smith is a blanket corner that people often forget because of what he does on offense; and Parker, only a junior, has been the perfect safety in Hurricane's defense.
"Those five guys are the key and everybody else kind of fills in around them and does what they do," said Homer. "But definitely those five guys get the nod for being excellent at what they do."
The only time those guys weren't excellent at what they do this fall was when the Tigers travelled to Cedar City at the end of the regular season and struggled in what proved to be a shocking 44-30 defeat.
Since then, though, those five — and everyone around them — have successfully stepped up.
"When I look back at that (Cedar) game, it's almost mysterious to me because our defense was so good up to that point, and it's been so good since that point — late touchdown to Delta (in the semis), two late scores by Emery in the quarters and one touchdown to Morgan (in the first round,)" said Homer.
Through 13 games, Hurricane is giving up an average of 13.69 ppg, second only in 3A to the team it faces in Friday's state-title game. (Juan Diego has given up 10.75 ppg.)
In Hurricane's case, Homer pointed out that a significant amount of those points have come after the Tigers' first-team defense has gone to the sidelines.
"That's something to be said for our first group," said Homer
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