Best of the Best Utah: Bingham High School 2015 Football Preview

Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA

When the 2014 Utah high school football season had come to a close, once again Bingham High School had some hardware to bring home for the already crowded trophy case. The Miners finished 13-1 with a disappointing 23-20 road loss to eventual national champs Bishop Gorman in Week 3 or would have otherwise contended for a national championship last season. As for the in-state challenges, Bingham never experienced a close call blowing out Utah programs throughout the season.

The Miners lost some senior talent off of last year’s squad notably quarterback Kyle Gearig, running backs Cameron Smith and Aaron Marsh and receiving option Michael Green. Kicker Chayden Johnston is gone to Utah and the defense will certainly miss linebacker Daniel Langi (Utah State) and defensive back Dominieke Jones (Air Force).

The upswing is Bingham just reloads thus the reason they have won back-to-back state championships. Some of the top talent to watch for this year is transfer quarterback Keaton Torre, linebacker/defensive end Parker Workman, and linebacker Simian Matagi.

Another noticeable difference to the Miners team will not be on the field per say but on the sidelines. Dave Peck retired at the end of last season with John Lambourne getting the promotion from offensive coordinator to head coach. Lambourne has been on the sidelines for over 20 years, expect very little to change with productivity and results game in and a game out.

The Miners have already started their season beating Westlake 38-0 (Aug. 21), and so Bingham continues their dominance. Beyond the in-state expectations the national expectations are high with MaxPrep writers ranking Bingham No. 13 and Prep Nation selecting the squad as the No. 18 team in the country.

Offense
Perhaps one of the things that makes Bingham such a high achieving team year after year, beyond the consistent top talent, is the smash-mouth football that is played. No gimmicks, just line ’em up and let’s see if our 11 can beat your 11. A new wrinkle that may help Lambourne continue the run to three state championships is quarterback Keaton Torre.

Torre, from Oklahoma, is more of a pocket passer than last year’s starter Kyle Gearig. Gearig was prolific in his own right with a touchdown to interception ratio of 25/3. The senior also had 262 yards on the ground but was prone to giving the ball over on fumbles (5). Torre can wing it around the field. The 3-star recruit has offers from BYU and Louisville.

When Torre drops back to pass, or if he wants to run, he has three solid offensive linemen clearing the way Tavian Myers (6’2”, 321), Cole Clemens, and Soni Ofahengaue. Porter Richards will help open holes for a running back by committee approach with juniors Elvis Vakapuna and Jahvontay Smith, and senior Brady Atkin. Vakapuna is the team’s leading returning rusher with 207 yards on the ground off of 38 carries with one touchdown. Atkin had 119 yards off 25 carries last season.

The receiving corps took a hit with Michael Green leading the pack with 488 yards and four scores. Cameron Smith was the team’s second leading receiver with 25 receptions covering 396 yards with six touchdowns. Filling those gaps will be another committee approach.

Defense
The strong point of the Miners’ defense is the front seven led by linebackers Parker Workman (6’3”, 210) and Simian Matagi (6’2”, 210). Matagi has an offer from Utah State and Workman has multiple offers including University of Nevada, Air Force, and Army.

The 2017 recruiting class is well represented up front with end Langi Tuifua and 4-star defensive tackle recruit Jay Tufele. Tuifua is already committed to Oregon after picking up 79 tackles as a sophomore and Tufele has double-digit offers from teams like UCLA, USC, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Utah State, and BYU after bringing down 63 ball carriers.

The biggest hole in the defense might be in the secondary with graduation of Kade Cloward. Howard had 92 tackles and five interceptions last season. Workman and Matagi should be able to make up for departed senior linebacker Daniel Langi and his team-high 115 tackles, four sacks, and four interceptions.

Simote Lokotui looks to be the heir apparent in the secondary for Howard. Lokotui had 60 tackles as a junior. Workman had 85 stops with a team leading 15 sacks and Matagi had 40 tackles with three sacks. Senior cornerback Ethan Erickson is the leading returner in the secondary with four picks a year ago.

Schedule
A couple of games jump out as potential trap games, Herriman and West Jordan sandwiching Bishop Gorman. Obviously playing the matchup against the Gaels is the game of national interest but looking ahead to BG or coming off an emotional win or loss could be difficult to get up immediately for West Jordan. The reality is Bingham owns a 26-game win streak against in-state opponents.

Brighton (Oct. 22) is a very talented team with Class of 2016 recruits Jackson Kaufusi, Stanford wide receiver commit Simi Fehoko, and BYU safety commit Drew Jensen. Certainly a game to watch for this season.

2015 Bingham Football Schedule
Aug. 21 Westlake 0 – Bingham 38
Aug. 28 Bingham at Herriman
Sept. 4 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) at Bingham
Sept. 11 Bingham at West Jordan
Sept. 18 Copper Hills at Bingham
Sept. 25 Bingham at Hunter
Oct. 2 Bingham at Cottonwood
Oct. 8 Taylorsville at Bingham
Oct. 14 Bingham at Jordan
Oct. 22 Brighton at Bingham

Photo credit: saltlaketribune.com; Bingham hoist the championship trophy.
Photo credit: vype.com; Langi Tuifua (49) and Jay Tufele (98) crush a ball carrier.