2015 2A All-Idaho Football Player of the Year: Tanner Oberhansley, North Fremont
Tanner Oberhansley’s four years at North Fremont coincided with a resurgence in Ashton. And North Fremont coach Ben Lenz said that’s no coincidence.
The Huskies lost 16 straight games before Oberhansley arrived. Since then, he’s led North Fremont to the playoffs four straight years.
“You don’t get that kind of a kid very often as a coach — those kids that have all the talent in the world and play with 100 percent effort with a great work ethic,” Lenz said. “They’re pretty tough to come by.”
The 5-foot-8, 160-pound back did it all for North Fremont, running for 1,926 yards and 23 TDs while averaging 8.5 yards per carry. The Nuclear Conference Player of the Year also ran a kickoff, a punt and a field goal back for touchdowns. And he led the Huskies’ defense, playing either corner or safety, even stepping down into the box when needed.
“It allowed us to adapt to the team we played and put our strengths on their strengths,” Lenz said. “If they had a great receiver, he was our No. 1 guy back there, so we’d put him back there. His expectation and demand on defense was as much as it was offensively.”
WHAT COACHES ARE SAYING
“He’s smart enough to know the rules of the game. We had a field goal that didn’t make it to the goal line, and he was smart enough to pick it up and run it back for a touchdown where everybody else was running off the field thinking that was the end of the half.” — Jim Newton, Ririe
OFF THE FIELD
The point guard of the Huskies’ basketball team, as well as a sprinter and triple jumper for the track team, fishes for rainbow trout on the Fall River outside his home and hunts for deer around Island Park. In the summer, he works staining cabins.
WHAT’S NEXT
Oberhansley will go on an LDS mission to a yet-to-be-determined location after he graduates in the spring. He said he’d like to pursue a college football career when he returns.
This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 11:45 PM with the headline "2015 2A All-Idaho Football Player of the Year: Tanner Oberhansley, North Fremont."