For some perspective on just how good Birmingham’s defense is, consider that starting defensive back Evan Jenkins had two interceptions tonight and got his name mentioned in the newspaper for the first time all year.
On any other defense, Jenkins would be one of the team’s stars. But for Birmingham’s defense, which held Taft to -25 yards on Wednesday night, he’s just one of the guys.
It’s a bit like the Oaks Christian effect of last year, when most mentions of the team’s best players only went about 3-4 players deep — Jimmy Clausen, Marc Tyler, Marshall Jones, Sean Wiser — even though seven other seniors ended up being Division I players.
At Birmingham, on the defensive side of the ball, star linebacker Donovan Carter and defensive ends Malik and Marquis Jackson grab a lot of the headlines. LB TJ Rosas and Marcus Law occasionally get recognized. DBs Greg Burgess and Okechukwu Meke are known to opposing offensive coordinators.
All will likely be selected All City. All will likely play somewhere in college next year.
But where does that leave players like Jenkins, CB Kyle Lard, DL Carlos Escobar or LB Daniel Mora? All are solid players who’d be big names on any other team.
The anonymity doesnt bother Jenkins though.
“We just want to win,” Jenkins said. “We were definitely trying to make a statement tonight. Taft is a good team. They’re running back, Morgan is good and their wide receiver, #1 has some talent. They tried to get under our skin. But we weren’t going to let them. We play with heart and wanted to make a statement that nothing was going to stop us from our goal.”