Shomari Hutchinson is a star in the making

Photo by Sadman Sakib Rahman

If you were looking for any standout Golden Hawks that might become household names in the near future, I think I have a pretty good idea of one to mention.

He goes by the name Shomari Hutchinson.

Hailing from LaSalle, Quebec and growing up in Toronto, he’s come up big for the Golden Hawks during many different moments this season.

With their being plenty of household names on the defensive side of the ball, you could say it is not the easiest thing to emerge as one of them being a younger player.

In certain points in time though, exceptions are made for someone. Regularly playing the boundary half position as a defensive back he has managed to make the transition to dime linebacker for the last couple of games.

“Well coming here as a boundary half, it wasn’t much of a transition because I was usually in the box as a boundary half and still covering guys,” he said, regarding the transition. But moving to dime linebacker I’m still in the box and also doing the same jobs as a boundary half.

Becoming a starter is another story though. In his first start at linebacker and first start as a Golden Hawk, Shomari recorded an astonishing 14.5 tackles 12 being solo tacklesversus the York Lions in a 53-31 win.

In doing that, he tied the school record owned by Jesse Alexander for the most tackles by a Laurier player in a single game.

Even though I’m an undersized dime linebacker, I still play with that physicality and aggression that my coaches love. With my speed and aggression I’m able to make up for my lack of size and I just play to my ability. I switch the game up into my style, to how it works out for me.

You may think it ends there but it does not. He was also recognized as not only the OUA but also the USports defensive player of the week. “I was fairly shocked, I didn’t think I played that well. I just did my job at the end of the day, Hutchinson said.

For a guy who generally would be considered undersized for a linebacker being listed at 5’10”, 180 lbs you would not exactly think he would flourish in such a physical position. As said earlier, exceptions can always be made.

Even though I’m an undersized dime linebacker, I still play with that physicality and aggression that my coaches love. With my speed and aggression I’m able to make up for my lack of size and I just play to my ability. I switch the game up into my style, to how it works out for me, he said.

This seems to have worked to his strength considering that he tied for the team lead in tackles versus Guelph the game after with eight-and-a-half.

With these accomplishments now behind him, he looks to continue his level of play along with keeping the job he has earned in playing to the level he has.

“It’s a great accomplishment of course, but at the end of the day, you still got to do your job as a football player. If you play to win those achievements, you’re not going far in life. You just got to do your job, play to get better every day and try to make it as far as I can in football, he said.

Not in an effort to downplay the accomplishment, but his points show the perspective of a player who understands the importance in being the best you can be. Doing it without having individual accomplishments in mind allows one to have a cleareye view of where they are going, and that is where he is.

Next up, the Golden Hawks will look to win their final game versus McMaster on home turf in hopes of being able to get second place in the OUA and get a first round bye.

Leave a Reply