Multi-Skilled Hines Sparks Milan Charge
September 14, 2018
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
MILAN – It’s a good thing Tristen Hines doesn’t get tired.
“Tristen doesn’t want to come off the field, and we don’t want him to come off the field,” said Milan football coach Jesse Hoskins. “He’s that type of player.”
Hines is a 5-foot-11, 170-pound junior already in his third season on the varsity football team for Milan, which is off to a 3-0 start and tied atop the Huron League standings. During the past couple of seasons, he’s played running back, wide receiver and quarterback on offense as well as cornerback and strong safety on defense. He also returns kickoffs and punts.
No matter where he plays, he’s electric.
“The cool thing about Tristen is he doesn’t know how to be lazy,” Hoskins said. “He plays hard and enjoys it. He could play just about any offensive position. He’s a legitimate Division I recruit.”
Early in his career, Hines played mainly just defense for Milan. As a freshman, he made an impact on the Big Reds defense, intercepting seven passes and joining in on 76 tackles. As a sophomore, he moved into more of an offensive role. When the season began he was a wide receiver, but an injury to starting Milan quarterback Dyllan Jones forced Hoskins to put the athletic Hines into the QB spot.
“Our system fits a mobile type of quarterback and Tristen is just that, plus he passes the ball well,” Hoskins said. “This year, with D.J. (Dyllan Jones) returning and Hunter Aeschbacker at running back, we decided to keep Tristen at wide receiver.”
Hines was happy with the move back to wide receiver.
“I think for the team, that is the best position for me,” he said. “I like it better there. I like to go one-on-one with the defender and get out into space. If the defense must pay attention to me, that opens things up for the other guys.”
Hoskins said there are various plays in the Big Reds’ playbook to get the ball into Hines’ hands.
“We have a few wrinkles,” the seventh-year Milan coach said with a smile.
The performance Hines had last week in Milan’s 46-24 win over Flat Rock made Hoskins and the Milan coaches look like geniuses. Hines caught six passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns from his wideout spot, ran for a touchdown and returned a blocked field goal 80 yards for a fifth score.
In three games this season, Hines has 102 yards rushing, 323 receiving, 448 all-purpose yards and eight touchdowns. In Week 2, Hines rushed for one touchdown and had more than 100 receiving yards against Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central. It was a thrilling Milan victory, with the final touchdown coming with less than a minute left in the game.
Milan’s Evan Furtney caught the game-winner from Jones. Hines couldn’t believe the finish.
“We got the ball with four or five minutes left, which seemed like plenty of time,” he said. “In the huddle, I was like ‘All right, let’s get this down the field.’ But, we kept getting penalties and moving back. Finally, it was fourth down and it was like, ‘somebody has got to make a play.’ … I knew the ball wasn’t coming to me. When D.J. threw it up and Evan came down with it, I just started jumping up and down. That was crazy. I’ve never been in a game like that, where it came down to the final seconds.”
Hines and Furtney are best friends.
“I knew one of us was going to have to make a catch or make a play,” he said. “I was happy for him.”
The Big Reds host Riverview (2-1) tonight in Milan’s first home game of the season.
“It should be pretty exciting,” Hines said. “This year feels a lot like 2016 when we won the league. Last year, we were sort of expecting to be the best team in the league, but with injuries and everything, it didn’t work out.”
Milan did finish 5-5 last year and made the playoffs for the third consecutive season. The Big Reds have a long and prosperous football tradition. They have made the playoffs 17 times over the years and have had some outstanding football players, dating back to University of Michigan and American Football League standout Joe O’Donnell, for whom the Milan football stadium is named.
Hines looks like the next Big Red to play Division I college football. He’s received interest from several Mid-American Conference schools, from the University of Toledo to Eastern Michigan University. The University of Cincinnati has stayed in contact, and recently Indiana and Michigan State University assistant coaches have reached out to him. There are no offers yet, but Hines isn’t worried about that for now.
“I know that will happen eventually,” he said. “I don’t dwell on it. I am focused on my team right now.”
Hines said he’ll probably end up playing cornerback in college.
“That’s where I want to play,” he said. “When I first started football, back in the third grade, I was always on defense. I loved to hit. I think defense is where I’ll be in college.”
Hoskins thinks once one school puts an offer on the table for Hines, there will be a domino effect and other teams will follow. Hines just wants to keep his Big Reds in contention for a Huron League title and a playoff berth.
“I’m just focused on playing football for Milan and winning,” Hines said. “That’s what it is all about. That is what makes football fun, to win.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Milan’s Tristen Hines pushes forward for another yard during last week’s win over Flat Rock. (Middle) Hines breaks for the end zone during a Week 1 victory at Bridgeport. (Photos courtesy of the Milan football program.)
Cass Tech, Campbell's Glories Grow
November 24, 2012
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
DETROIT — Thomas Wilcher is a former Detroit Public School League football star who has become one of the most successful coaches in the state.
Perhaps such a future awaits the city’s brightest current star, Detroit Cass Tech quarterback Jayru Campbell.
Wilcher raved about his sophomore signal caller’s mental grasp of the game after the Technicians became the first PSL team to win back-to-back MHSAA football championships with a 36-21 victory over Detroit Catholic Central on Saturday at Ford Field.
Campbell has orchestrated the offense during both championship runs, each of which ended with a dominant performance against perennial power Catholic Central. Cass Tech routed the Shamrocks 49-13 in last year’s title game, as Campbell threw for five touchdowns.
Campbell’s stats weren't as gaudy this time around (4 for 12, 154 yards, one touchdown), but it’s not his physical gifts that drew high praise from Wilcher after the game.
“I told him on the telephone one night, ‘I don’t care about your arm right now. I just love the way you think on the football field,’” Wilcher said. “That’s what makes him so important to me right now. We’re teaching.”
As a freshman, Campbell was given limited ability to change plays at the line of scrimmage. As a 10th-grader who has already started 28 varsity games, he has earned more trust from his coaching staff than many seniors.
“They gave me more of a green light this year,” Campbell said. “Last year, they pretty much told me I could change the play from left to right; that was the most green light I had. This year, I’m changing passes to runs, runs to passes. It’s not getting difficult, but it’s more responsibility on me. I’m up for the challenge.”
Campbell altered the original call on two of Cass Tech’s biggest offensive plays.
On the Technicians’ first play from scrimmage, he audibled senior receiver Jourdan Lewis from a stop route to a go route. Lewis made a leaping catch between two defenders along the left sideline and took off for an 89-yard touchdown to open the scoring with 9:31 left in the first quarter.
“It was supposed to be a stop,” Campbell said. “The corner was playing so far up, I knew Jourdan Lewis was going to get around him. I just told him to go ahead and do what you do.”
In the fourth quarter, with Cass Tech trying to put the game away, Campbell changed a pass to a draw play to running back Mike Weber on fourth-and-10 from Catholic Central’s 30-yard line. Weber exploded 26 yards to the 4-yard line, setting up a 3-yard touchdown run by Campbell that expanded the lead to 29-7 with 7:59 remaining.
“I saw they had only one linebacker in the back,” Campbell said. “Coach Wilcher really believes in me. He knows I will get the job done. He really trusts me.”
Catholic Central came in looking to avenge last year’s 36-point loss in the Final, but the Shamrocks fell behind 12-0 in the first five minutes on the 89-yard catch by Lewis and a 58-yard fumble return by 260-pound defensive tackle Kenton Gibbs.
The Shamrocks (9-5) slowed the momentum and got back in the game at 12-7 on an 18-yard pass from Garrett Moores to Zach Bock with 2:02 left in the first half. The Technicians (12-2) tacked on a 31-yard field goal by Ken Snapp to take a 15-7 lead into halftime.
A 57-yard run by Weber on third-and-17 set up a 30-yard touchdown run by Deon Drake Jr. on the following play, giving Cass Tech a 22-7 lead on the first series of the third quarter.
“We knew going in from last year’s experience that we can’t make mistakes, because they capitalize well on mistakes, but we did,” Catholic Central coach Tom Mach said. “They made a great throw and catch on the first touchdown. Then we made a couple of mistakes that they capitalized on. We found ourselves in a hole and had to try to get out of that hole. We were doing a good job of that, I thought. Then they exerted themselves and put another touchdown in.”
It became a 29-7 game when Cass Tech went 79 yards in 16 plays, taking 7:14 off the clock before Campbell scored on his 3-yard run with 7:59 left in the fourth quarter.
Catholic Central twice made it a two-possession game in the final 5:57 on touchdown passes by Moores, but the Technicians had an 84-yard interception return for a touchdown by Delano Hill in between them.
“It was no different than last year,” Catholic Central senior running back Anthony Darkangelo said. “We knew last year they were a fast team and we had to keep contain on the edges outside. They executed their game plan and we didn't execute the plan we had for the game.”
Click for full statistics and to watch a replay of the game. See below for the full press conference.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Cass Tech David Dawson hoists quarterback Jayru Campbell (10) during Saturday's Division 1 Final. (Middle) Cass Tech running back Mike Weber runs into a crowd of Detroit Catholic Central defenders including Sean Birney (18) and Dylan Roney (89). (Click for more from Terry McNamara Photography.)