MVPs excelled on and off the field for their teams

Year after year, the state of Utah produces outstanding talent on the football field. It's evident every Friday night, but also in the number of big-time college football programs that routinely recruit the Beehive State to compete with Utah and BYU for the top players.

As a result, the competition for postseason honors is greater than ever, but the 2009 Deseret News state football MVPs stood out above their peers.

Davis' Tanner Hinds, Timpview's Ofa Latu, Park City's Dylan Chynoweth, San Juan's Jace Holliday and Rich's Bradley Holmes are all seniors who not only had incredible careers on the field, but also excelled with their character off the field.

Not all hoisted state championship hardware last month, but they all had dominant seasons regardless of the end result.

5A MVP: Tanner Hinds, Davis

Statistics sometimes speak for themselves, but for this senior running back, they only told half the story.

In amassing more than 2,000 yards of total offense Hinds was the catalyst behind Davis' runner-up finish to Bingham. But it was the intangibles that stood out to the coaching staff.

"Tanner is an incredible football player, but that's not my most favorite thing about him. My most favorite thing about him is he's humble, he has an incredible work ethic, he has a tremendous desire to be part of a successful team," said Davis coach Ryan Bishop.

A Region 1 championship, a trip to Rice-Eccles Stadium and a second-place finish to No. 1 Bingham definitely constitutes success.

The workhorse back, he carried the ball 281 times for 1,931 yards and 24 touchdowns this season, finishing with a 6.9 yard per carry average. Some of his biggest games included a 181-yard performance in the semifinals against Hunter, a 182-yard outburst against Pleasant Grove in the quarterfinals and 187 yards against Syracuse in Week 4.

"He's the entire package. He can run, he's hard-nosed, he's physical, he's quick and could use his speed when he needed to," said Bishop. "He could catch the ball out of the backfield, he blocked when we asked him to, that's what made him such a complete player."

In addition to his monster season rushing the ball, Hinds also added 104 receiving yards, 224 kickoff return yards and 252 punt return yards. He finished his three-year career with 4,655 all-purpose yards, all while maintaining his humble demeanor.