By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE – Hewitt-Trussville’s 2024 defense was the best in all of Alabama this season and the gentleman who was responsible for coaching that group was honored this week as Sean Talsma, the Hewitt-Trussville defensive coordinator, won the Alabama Football Coaches Association’s 7A Assistant of the year.
Hewitt-Trussville defensive coordinator and ALFCA’s 2024 7A Assistant Coach of the Year, Sean Talsma.
Credit: Sean Talsma
Talsma’s defense boasted names like Michael Igbinoghene, Drew Ollis, Parker Floyd, and Owen Robinson on a team of guys who, in Talsma’s words, “just went out and executed what we gave them.”
The Huskies finished the season 8-3, losing a two-overtime thriller to former Hewitt offensive coordinator Juan Johnson, who was voted as the ALFCA’s 7A Head Coach of the Year this year, and his Baker Hornets.
The Hewitt defense, under Talsma, held opponents to a stellar 9.5 points per game (104 total points allowed in 2024). The most points they allowed were to Baker (17). If that was not enough, this defense allowed 213 yards per game, snagged 21 turnovers, and had 25 sacks on the season.
The region that the Huskies played in includes Hoover, who went 10-3 and 7A state champions, Thompson, who went 11-3. The schedule also included playoff teams Gadsden City and region foe Vestavia Hills, which makes the defensive domination that much more impressive.
“This was something that I was not expecting,” said Talsma. “It is a huge honor to be recognized by our state association. They only select one guy from each classification. I’ve been doing this a while and I’ve been on some pretty good teams but nothing to this extent and never received this honor before. It’s a really big deal.”
Talsma is not a rookie at this job. He has been coaching in some capacity for over 25 years, beginning in his home state of Michigan for the first two years of his career and moving South to Georgia for five years before coming to Alabama. Upon his arrival, he spent a year at Pelham before going to Clay-Chalkville, where he spent 13 years and moved up to defensive coordinator under Jerry Hood. Talsma was part of the 2014 state championship team as well as the runner-up team in 2015. Talsma is in his sixth year with the Huskies. “When I was at smaller schools, I’ve coached some offense, defensive line at other schools, but I have really cut my teeth coaching defensive backs.”
This year’s defense was likely one of the most impressive of his career. “The biggest thing about this group of guys is that they were sort of no name guys who bought into what we were doing. Just a bunch of hard-nosed kids who believed in our plan. All of our defensive coaches contributed to it, but the kids bought in and believed in what we were doing. We didn’t do much that was complex and it allowed our guys to play fast. There were no ‘look at me’ kind of kids out there. They pulled for each other and genuinely cared for each other. Specifically, Owen Robinson was our glue. He may not have all of the stats, but anyone who coaches ball would want him on their team. He watched so much film that you barely had to coach him on Friday nights.”
A good friend of Talsma’s was able to break the news to him over the weekend. “I knew that this usually happened around the Super 7. I had no idea that I had been nominated. I knew we played really good defense but you wonder if anyone else notices and really understands what is going on here, so it was a surprise to me. Aryvia Holmes, McAdory’s head coach, is a great friend of mine and was in my wedding. He called me to tell me I was selected. I was shocked. We are very close friends. That was really special. Then, over the weekend, coach Jack Wood called me. That was a great honor. He told me he was proud of me. That really meant a lot. I coached in Jack Wood Stadium when I was at Clay. I respect him a lot. My first few years at Clay, he would take time to talk to me. So, it was a big deal to hear from him and I was blown away and this is a great honor.”
Hewitt’s head football coach, Josh Floyd, said the following about his defensive coordinator, “Coach Talsma always does a great job with our defense here and is very deserving of this award. Sean is a very hard worker that always has our guys in the best position to be successful every Friday night. He also is a coach that pours into kids off the field which is very important in our program. We believe in developing players here and he does a great job of that starting at a young age. One thing that is very impressive is that we only had three senior starters on defense this year. Those three guys were great leaders for us this year and we are very excited to be returning 8 of the 11 next season. This award is also a testament to the rest of our staff and obviously the players.”
