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Hawkins, Henfield bolster strong Shorter interior defense
By Jim O'Hara
ROME – From the day Shorter University’s football team first took the field seven years ago, two positions have been recognized as the core of Shorter’s 3-4 defensive scheme.
Shorter’s middle linebacking tandem is constantly called upon to handle multiple tasks, the prime mission to plug up the holes and stop the run, but also possessing the ability to drop back in the secondary to help thwart an opponent’s passing plans. They must be strong, quick, fast, agile and able to dish out the same punishment they must also be willing to take.
This season, the Hawks have two players that are continuing the inside linebacking legacy left by the those before them, most notably former greats Logan Lollis and Garrett Hochstetler, who manned the position during a five-year period at SU.
Junior transfer Demery Hawkins and freshman Dominique Henfield, both first-year starters in their first seasons with the Hawks, have risen to the challenge and will lead Shorter’s defensive unit on Saturday when the Hawks (4-2, 2-1 Mid-South) face a run-oriented University of the Cumberlands squad in Williamsburg, Ky., in another must-win Mid-South Conference West Division clash.
“All of them are great kids. They work hard and they play together,” Shorter inside linebackers coach Ronnie Newberry said of his group of players that also include sophomore Josh White, juniors Dylan Holtman and Justin White and freshmen Anthony Hudgins and Seth Dodd.
“It’s a tight-knit group,” he added. “They each have their own strengths.”
When the Hawks gathered for their preseason camp back in August, White was the only member of the group with extensive experience – wisdom he gained as a freshman in 2010 when he worked his way into the rotation and finished with 42 tackles.
But during the team’s first preseason scrimmage, White went down with a broken foot and the injury left Newberry with no choice but to count on some untested backers.
Hawkins, a former standout at Toombs County – the same school that produced Lollis, a two-time Mid-South Defensive Player of the Year, two-time NAIA All-America and Shorter’s all-time leading tackler – who spent two years at Georgia Military College, had already been labeled as a player who could step into the slot.
Savannah native and Calvary Day School product Henfield, however, was immediately thrown into the mix and called upon to step into a starting role.
Despite being new to the team, Hawkins and Henfield, who ironically had the same head coach in high school – Mark Stroud coached Hawkins and Lollis at Toombs before moving to Calvary Day with Henfield – have responded and improved their games each week to become a potent 1-2 punch in the middle.
Heading into this week’s game against Cumberlands, the 6-foot-1, 240-pound Hawkins leads the Mid-South Conference with 72 tackles and ranks No. 2 in the country averaging 12 tackles a game. Henfield (6-3, 230) is the Hawks’ next best tackler with 47 stops and two fumble recoveries.
“When Josh went down it did put a lot of pressure on me,” said Hawkins. “I had to come in and learn a lot about the defense. Most of us were new to each other but we bonded quickly.”
“I saw it as a blessing,” Henfield said about getting the call to play early. “I prepared myself when I came here, but didn’t think I’d jump into the fire this fast.”
Newberry felt optimistic in every one of the middle backers despite their inexperience.
“I have confidence in their abilities,” the coach said. “Demery had been playing junior college ball and Dominique came in right out of high school where he was a very good player. I would have liked to bring Dominique and the other freshman along a little slower, but they had to step up and play, and they’ve progressed every week.
“They’ve picked it up pretty well. In our defense you have to read all the time and that’s hard, but every week we’ve seen less and less mistakes.”
The Hawks have also seen their defense emerge as the No. 2-ranked unit in the conference against the run, having held foes to just 105 yards rushing a game.
“That’s been our strength and they’re getting better against the pass,” said Newberry, who now has Hochstetler at his side as one of Shorter’s graduate assistants. “I’m blessed to have Garrett. He knows the position and he knows what I want.”
Last week in a critical 30-13 victory over division foe Belhaven, Shorter’s defense gave up only 279 total offensive yards – 119 of that on the ground – and held the conference’s second-leading rusher, Justin Gaines, to 29 yards. Belhaven had entered the game fresh from a 537-yard effort the week before against Faulkner.
The Hawks’ inside linebacking corps has gotten even stronger with the return of White, who has healed and seen some action in Shorter’s last two games.
“It was probably one of the most frustrating things for me – to come out during practices and games and have to watch,” White said. “But I saw that it didn’t take long for [my fellow linebackers] to catch on.”
The Hawks’ defense knows that this Saturday, they will be asked to shut down another potent rushing attack in order to keep their conference title and postseason hopes alive.
Cumberlands is the Mid-South’s second-leading rushing offense behind Shorter, averaging 222 rushing yards and 26 points a game.
“It gets us fired up that we play very good teams every week,” said Hawkins.
The middle linebackers have developed from individuals that hardly knew each other into one, tight-knit unit that mixes their God-given athletic abilities with camaraderie.
“It came naturally,” said Henfield. “From day one, I saw there were no egos out there. Everyone wants to win as a team.”
