Daily Journal Football Player of the Year: M-A’s Devin Hyde

Menlo-Atherton has always been home sweet home for Devin Hyde. And there’s a good reason for it.

Since he started playing organized football for the Pop Warner M-A Vikings in 2014, Hyde has always and only called Coach Parks Field his home field. Some 11 years later, Hyde played his final home game there for the M-A Bears, having developed as an extraordinary two-way lineman, a three-star recruit as an edge rusher, and an NCAA Division I signee who is set to play at University of Washington on a full athletic scholarship.

That’s right, the 6-5, 240-pound senior who bleeds burgundy and yellow is set to travel to a new home at Husky Stadium. According to M-A head coach Chris Saunders, the new digs project to be a step along the way to the brightest of football futures.

“He’s going to play on Sundays,” Saunders said. “He just is. To have that kind of build and frame, with the speed combination, that’s what NFL guys are looking for.”

Hyde closed out his four-year varsity football career in style. The Bears’ second-year team captain earned Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division Defensive Player of the Year honors, though his exploits at offensive tackle weren’t far behind.

Adding to his accolades, Hyde has been named the Daily Journal Football Player of the Year.

Despite the honors, Hyde wasn’t M-A’s top tackler this season. Far from it. Senior linebacker Anthony Van der Meer was the Bears’ runaway leader, recording 118 total tackles along with 52 solo takedowns and 19 tackles for a loss. Hyde ranked third on the team with 55 tackles, fourth with 21 tackles, and second with seven tackles for a loss. He, Van der Meer and senior defensive end Giles Hayhurst tied for the team lead with three sacks apiece.

It was Hyde who was the catalyst of well-balanced defense, though. After leading the team with 94 tackles as a junior in 2023, word was out around the Central Coast Section about Hyde’s dominant exploits. So, first-year defensive coordinator Harold Atkins implemented a new defensive scheme, switching the base look from a 4-3 to a 4-2-5. That integrated Hyde — who had been more an outside linebacker as a junior — as a true edge rusher in the four-down front, and opened things up for the linebacker corps.

“This year with Anthony — just a really solid and strong linebacker who absolutely loved lighting people up — it was good knowing ... in the middle of the field, Anthony really had that locked down,” Hyde said.

Meanwhile, Hyde was vigilantly absorbing double-teams.

“Even with the edge rushing position, they could put their best lineman and a running back on me, they still had to deal with this guy in the middle of the field just killing guys,” Hyde said.

Atkins’ well-timed arrival in the varsity ranks was no accident. Not only had Atkins, who ran M-A’s freshman team in 2021, coached Hyde during his stint with the freshman team before his being promoted straight to the varsity squad midway through the season. Atkins, like Hyde, had called Coach Parks Field home well before joining the M-A Bears’ staff, as president and head coach for the M-A Vikings. It was Atkins who coached Hyde since his Pop Warner debut as a Mitey-Mite in 2014.

Hyde played five games with the freshman team that season. With an injury to one of M-A’s starting inside linebackers, however, Hyde earned the varsity call-up, flying right past the junior-varsity level to land with the big squad for the next three-and-a-half years.

“That was a hell of a baptism to varsity football, and we never looked back from there,” Saunders said.

With his varsity promotion came the chance to play with M-A’s then-senior Matt MacLeod, a standout quarterback who knew something about moving up as a freshman. MacLeod enjoyed a legendary breakout performance for M-A, making his second varsity appearance in the 2018 CCS Division I championship game, throwing the game-winning touchdown pass to now-Denver Broncos wide receiver Troy Franklin in a 33-28 comeback win over Wilcox.

So, it was fitting when Hyde turned in a highlight-reel play in his second varsity game — an early tackle for a loss on fourth-and-1 to force a turnover on downs in a 56-20 win over Sacred Heart Prep on Oct. 15, 2021 — it was MacLeod’s reaction that helped anoint Hyde as a bona fide varsity player.

“You see Matt on the sideline just jumping up and down just so excited,” Hyde said. “That’s one of my favorite memories.”

Fast forward to this season, Hyde had become renowned for highlight-reel plays.

Hyde recalled a sack against in the season opener, a 40-10 win over Bellarmine, during which he showcased just how potent Atkins’ new four-down defensive front could be. The Bells looked to run a bubble screen, a pass play that doesn’t require much time for the quarterback to unload the ball. But Hyde needed little time to sniff out the play and anticipate the quarterback’s first step.

“In my heart and soul I just knew I was getting to this guy,” Hyde said. “So, I was just sprinting at him.”

The resulting strip-sack resulted in a fumble recovery for M-A. It was a sign of things to come for the Bears who, on defense — with an interior line anchored by 385-pound senior nose tackle Amaloni Mohetau and 350-pound junior defensive tackle Ikuna Manuofetoa — allowed just 13.75 points per game this season.

“Devin did that all year,” Saunders said. “He really reset the edge and the point of attack. And if he didn’t make the tackle, someone else did.”

M-A posted a 7-5 overall record, including a 2-3 mark in PAL Bay Division play. The Bears advanced to the second round of the CCS Division II playoffs, being eliminated in Hyde’s final game, a 10-7 loss Nov. 22, at Wilcox. The previous week, a 35-7 win over Monterey in the CCS opener at Coach Parks Field, Hyde sat out to rest up following a high-volume workload in the regular season.

It was some of the only rest Hyde got after playing both ways throughout the year, hardly ever taking off an offensive or defensive play in high-leverage games.

“You don’t get stats on the offensive side of the ball,” Saunders said. “He played probably 150 snaps a game for us. Like I like to say: Power 5 guys don’t come off the field.”

While it’s true, Hyde doesn’t get any stats for his work at left tackle, M-A’s rushing game speaks volumes to his blocking ability. The Bears gained 3,697 yards of total offense this season, including 1,531 rushing yards. Junior Evaimalo Ama led the ground attack with 722 rushing yards, averaging 6.3 yards per carry. Like Hyde, Ama consistently played both ways, doubling as a linebacker.

“We ran behind him all season,” Saunders said. “If you stand next to him, he’s just a powerhouse. He’s quick and athletic.”

And now, the quick and athletic Hyde is Seattle bound where he will look to make a home away from home for the first time in his football career. Just because he will don the Huskies’ purple and gold, however, doesn’t mean he still doesn’t bleed burgundy and yellow.

Said Hyde: “M-A High School and Coach Parks Field feels like a true home to me.”