The 1999 Layton graduate is three seasons into his attempt at piecing together a winning season, having won eight games since replacing fellow Lancer and BYU alum Fotu Katoa in 2023. It’s been a tough decade for Layton football, no doubt, but the upcoming 2026 campaign lends hope to a team hungry for sustained success.

Half of Layton’s 10 returning starters star on both sides of the trenches, and that experience shields All-Area senior rusher Luke Byers and returning quarterback sophomore Tillman Thomas. The offense, coached by 2016 Layton graduate Koy Cannon, looks to expand on 284 yards per game last season.

These days, though, it’s a constant battle to keep guys around.

Historically, Layton has won six or more games in a season just twice since Cannon finished his prep career a decade ago. Thomas tapped Cannon, a three-year starter wideout and defensive back and the older brother of fellow Lancers alum Porter Cannon, to call the offense upon taking the job in 2023.

Photo supplied, Layton High School

Thomas also landed a Super Bowl talent, Layton alum and former Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marcus Kemp, on his staff as a pass game and special teams coordinator in 2024. Former Layton standout quarterback and wide receiver Wylee Strong joined the staff last season as the team’s running backs coach.

Bringing in a handful of knowledgeable football guys is one thing, but selling a locker room on building a winning tradition is another. The spoiler, Thomas said, is those wins can’t come before Layton establishes a culture that retains local kids.

“You’re going to lose some kids,” Thomas said. “But, if you can build a culture and an environment, and ultimately winning takes care of it all — but I’ve tried to build a lot of culture about the past and what Layton High’s been, and that’s helped a lot.”

Building a roster isn’t what it used to be

Layton isn’t immune to a transfer culture that’s leaked down from the college level and into the high school realm, where a growing number of football players move from one school to another, whether from 15 miles away or out of state.

In Utah, especially, it’s a tricky business where a student in grades 9 through 12 may apply for a boundary permit (also referred to as a variance) through their respective district while remaining subject to the Utah High School Activities Association’s transfer rules.

CONNER BECKER, Standard-Examiner

The UHSAA’s official language demands a student fulfill one of five specific criteria, including change of residence or legal guardian, to become immediately eligible for varsity sports. A student not meeting the outlined criteria must sit out for 12 months before they become eligible, according to the UHSAA’s Section 9 transfer rules.

In recent years, Thomas said the game’s changed with just how many kids he’s seen pulled to one football program or another.

“A lot of times, I’m recruiting my own kids,” Thomas said.

The concept of moving schools isn’t unique to one particular level. Like with the college level, students are incentivized to play for a specific program or institution if it means exposure in their desired sport.

A potential scholarship or career path is a shiny objective for any young, aspiring athlete — Cannon was one of them — but retaining the mission and priceless lessons of high school sports is what has the 28-year-old enthusiastic about his role coaching at his alma mater.

“If a kid wants to leave, they’re going to leave,” Cannon said. “The kids are still in high school. We obviously take it seriously, and we want to win every game, but is that the likelihood of it all? Probably not, but that’s the goal: keeping it light and fun with the kids and letting them enjoy the experience of being here at Layton High and what it means.

“Sometimes it can feel like a job, and that’s going to burn these kids out.”

It wasn’t long ago that transfers were just an anomaly.

With a rise in apparent movement from school to school, high school coaches are racing to master the growing technology — Hudl, GameChanger MaxPreps, etc. — as to not get left behind in the new age. Like many states, Utah schools are required to report game scores and stats via MaxPreps promptly after each contest, according to UHSAA.org.

“I think we had one kid in the four years that I played here that moved in,” Cannon said. “And that’s just because his family bought a new house. … The resources we have now as players and coaches, whether it’s technology with the game film or the amount of meeting time and instruction we do now, 10 years ago that was all just up and running. We’d watch film once a week, and that’s about it. The advancement in that is a lot different.”

Honor the past, build for the future

Long after Brandon Flint set the still-standing school sacks record (33) at BYU from 1980 to 1983, the standout defensive end made several stops around Davis and Weber counties, including Layton High, and it was on those 1990s teams that Thomas remembered the assistant coach best.

As an assistant at Layton, Flint once sent a teenage Thomas, during practice, to a floral shop down the street from the high school to inquire about the cost of a dozen roses. Trevor can’t remember exactly why he was asked to do that, but it’s likely that he deserved it.

“I’ve taken a lot of what I’ve learned and saw from all these coaches, and I’ve tried to motivate in a newer way,” Trevor Thomas said.

Flint was part of Gary Hansen’s 1978 state championship run at Layton — which remains the program’s only state football title to date — and later coached alongside the late Louis Carter Cook and Trevor’s father, Dave Thomas, he a retired Layton recreation supervisor and former Layton City Council member who coached sophomores throughout the late 1990s.

The times have changed, but the younger Thomas is back for more entering his fourth season heading the program.

His upcoming group includes a hopeful, healthy mix of talent, including sophomore two-way standouts Drew Godderidge and Easton Thomas, vying for a breakout season amid a relentless Region 1 schedule.

Layton kicks the season off at home against 5A Timpview on Aug. 14.

“It’s a group that knows football and wants to work hard, but they’re only 15 or 16 years old. They want to be really good,” Thomas said. “Down the road they’re going to be even better, but if you mix it in with what we have coming back, it could be a really good season.”

Connect with Standard-Examiner sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net, X @ctbecker and Instagram @standardexaminersports.