While other area players have eaten up all the accolades, this quintet of defenders has hardly had a taste of fame. Until this week. With playoffs starting Friday, the spotlight has finally found these five.
LB/SS Kinyatah Morgan, So., Nature Coast
In middle school, Morgan was on the verge of dropping out. His attendance was sporadic. His grades suffered.
Most of that was due to instability at home. Morgan lived with his mother before deciding to stay with his grandmother.
"The biggest thing Kinyatah needed was some structure," said Rudy Story, his uncle.
Story had a plan. He offered to have Morgan live with him. There was one condition for this arrangement to work.
"Kinyatah had to get serious about his academics," Story said.
Before Morgan could move on to eighth grade, he had to make up classes. He went to summer school to complete what he missed. "I put in a lot of work in the classroom," Morgan said.
At the time, Morgan felt he had an obligation to skip school. He wanted to stay home so he could take care of his grandmother, who had kidney issues.
"Kinyatah is a really caring person," Story said. "He has a big heart."
But Morgan's heart also had problems. In fifth grade, doctors discovered he had a heart murmur. It prevented from playing football, the sport he loved growing up.
Morgan was cleared to resume playing in eighth grade. Story would not let his nephew get back on the field until he was on the right path academically.
It was not until Morgan entered high school at Nature Coast that he started playing again. As a freshman, he finished with 46 tackles and an interception. Morgan has posted even better numbers this season with 68 tackles and four interceptions.
But the stat that matters most is his 3.25 weighted grade-point average. Story said his nephew will eventually take the SAT or ACT to qualify for college.
"Just a few years ago I was trying to make sure Kinyatah stayed in school," said Story, who is an assistant football coach with the Sharks. "Now he is set to graduate from high school and has a real good shot at playing in college. He's come a long way."
LB Ben Hestorff, Jr., Plant
As Plant coach Robert Weiner sorted through video highlights, he noticed that opposing offenses were paying little regard to Hestorff.
"I was telling our quarterback, Tucker Gleason, that people seem to forget about Ben when he is on the field," Weiner said. "Ben is able to flow to the play virtually untouched and before you know it, he's somewhere near the ball, biting around an opponent's ankles."
If measures such as height and weight played a major role, Hestorff would not be starting. He is 5-foot-7 and weighs 155 pounds. In fact, Hestorff did not start at the beginning of the season.
He played special teams, excelling in his role on coverage units.
An injury thrust Hestorff into the lineup. He has stayed there thanks to his play.
Hestorff already is third on the team in tackles with 60. In the past five weeks, he has led the team in tackles, including a season-high 20 against Newsome in the regular season.
What makes this even more remarkable is Hestorff plays inside linebacker, a position manned mostly by bigger guys.
Again, Hesteroff's size, or lack thereof, works to his advantage.
"I can really see the play develop more on the inside than I would on the size," he said.
Hestorff uses his short stature to stay low and make textbook tackles.
"There are physical assets people have that everyone can see," Weiner said. "But not everyone can measure heart. And Ben has plenty of that. He maximizes everything he has. He is the heart of our defense."
LB Stuart Sherrell, Sr., Mitchell
It was only natural that Sherrell was drawn to fishing. "I've lived on the water almost my entire life," he said.
Sherrell started boating with his family by the time he was 5. At first, he fished for redfish and trout. Eventually, he moved on to offshore outings for grouper.
Now, the Mitchell High senior spends most of his time reeling in opposing quarterbacks and running backs. Sherrell, one of the Mustangs' captains, has 67 tackles, three sacks and an interception this season. He is a big reason Mitchell won its fourth straight district title.
"Stuart might be the best leader I've ever been around," coach Andy Schmitz said.
It is a role Sherrell takes seriously.
"I believe that I am more of a natural leader," he said. "I consistently lead by example whether it is finishing a set of 10 in the weight room or being the last one off the practice field to take the water in. Throughout high school leadership has slowly grown on me and now I can teach the underclassmen the standard."
The high standard Sherrell set for himself also extends to the classroom. He has maintained a 4.4 weighted grade-point average while being on varsity the past three seasons. Still, those stats might not be enough to play in college.
Sherrell is fine with that.
"If I have the opportunity to play in college I would give it some thought but for now I plan on attending Florida to major in biochemical engineering," he said.
LB Jaden Pask, Sr., Jesuit
To find a spot on defense, Pask had to pay his dues on offense as a freshman. He played running back on the junior varsity team.
"I was a team guy, so I did it," Pask said. "But I played it like a linebacker. I would always pick the biggest guys in the middle and try to see if I could run through them. The coaches saw I had a little dog in me."
He has turned into the lead dog of the defense. He has 16 tackles for a loss and five sacks for 9-1 Jesuit. At 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, he isn't the biggest player on the field. But he makes up for it with determination.
That seems to run in his family. His father, Jasen, is a member of the Army National Guard. Last year, Jasen was deployed to Africa for a year and was unable to watch Jaden play. So Jaden would send his dad film after every game for him to watch and critique.
Jasen is back in Tampa this year and able to attend every game.
"I always look for him in the stands," Jaden said. "He signals things to me like 'Make yourself big.' Or he'll brush on his shoulder to tell me to brush a bad play off."
Jaden said on Saturdays he will watch film with his dad from Friday night's game. Jasen was Jaden's linebacker coach in youth leagues and he's taught him most of what he knows about playing defense.
"It's funny because now all the coaches are saying the same things my dad has been saying to me," Jaden said. "He really knows what he's doing."
Pask said he would like to continue playing football in college. There are no solid offers yet, but he has talked to some Division III and II colleges. He said he would also like to apply to Army in West Point.
Pask comes from a military family that dates back to his great grandfather. But his dad isn't thrilled about Jaden being in the military.
"He said I was too smart for that," Pask said with a laugh.
OLB David Woods, Sr., Lakewood
Lakewood coach Cory Moore has a simple description of Woods as a player. "He's a monster," Moore said.
Woods has a slightly different description. "I'm a straight dog," he said.
Woods is in his third year as a starter on defense. He has steadily improved. As a sophomore he had 75 tackles. Last year he had 87 and this year he is over 100. Knocking a ball carrier down is the highlight of the night for Woods. It's the main reason he wanted to play defense. Well, that and the playbook.
"You have to remember too many plays on offense,"' Woods said. "There's like 30 to 50 plays you have to remember. Defense has like five different formations."
At 6-0, 190 pounds, Woods may be slightly undersized for the big-time Division I-A programs. But he has been one of the Spartans' most consistent players the past three seasons.
He said he would love to continue playing football in college somewhere. But he also realizes that it's partially out of his control.
"Every game I play I want anybody who's watching to say, 'That No. 5 is a pretty good player,'" Woods said. "All I can do is play hard and hope people notice."