Rebel with a cause

Taylor Hughes has been the guy, as well as the guy behind the guy. Tonight, when the South meets the North in the Orange County All-Star football game that kicks off at 7:15 at Orange Coast College, he’ll see what it’s like being the guy beside the guy.

Hughes, a quarterback who broke Corona del Mar High single-season records for passing yards (2,204) and touchdown passes (22) while throwing at least one TD pass in all 10 games he played last fall, is scheduled to share time for the South with former Trabuco Hills standout Sean Reilly.

The situation is somewhat less attractive than Hughes’ status in his only season with the Sea Kings. But it is preferable to being bypassed on the depth chart at Mater Dei, where he spent his first three prep seasons.

Hughes, a Yorba Linda resident, originally planned to play his senior season at El Dorado High, the attendance boundaries within which he resided at the time. But his family’s move to Newport Beach suddenly made then 6-foot-2, 180-pounder the trigger man for the CdM offense.

He responded by completing 139 of 234 pass attempts (59.4%), despite twice being sidelined by injuries (first a shoulder dislocation then a swollen knee).

Now healthy and heavier — he added 15 pounds with offseason strength training — Hughes said he is primed to show Division I recruiters what they missed.

“I was a little bit disappointed,” Hughes said of the lack of recruiting attention he received after earning All-CIF Southern Section Southern Division honors as a senior. He was also named Newport-Mesa Offensive Player of the Year, as well as Offensive Player of the Year in the Pacific Coast League. He had multiple TD tosses in eight of the 10 games he played and threw three touchdown passes against Laguna Beach, Troy, Irvine and Estancia to help the Sea Kings finish 7-5 and reach the CIF Southern Division quarterfinals.

“But I understand how I went under the radar, because I changed schools and only played one varsity season,” Hughes said.

Hughes, who plans to play next season at Orange Coast College, said he received some interest from Colorado and San Jose State, but neither had scholarships to offer.

South Coach Mike Jacot (Santa Margarita High) said Hughes has been impressive in workouts leading up to tonight’s game.

“He has a great arm, he throws a good ball and he has a nice touch,” said Jacot, who will utilize Hughes and Reilly in the “Bullet” formation, a version of the shotgun in which the quarterback is about three yards closer to the center.

“It’s a quick shotgun snap that was a little unorthodox at first,” said Hughes, who spent plenty of time in the shotgun at CdM. “But I like the way the offense is run.”

Jacot said the South will go primarily with a single-back alignment that will allow the quarterbacks to display their rushing skills.

Hughes rushed for 168 yards and one touchdown, though his shoulder injury in the fourth game forced coaches to rein him in the rest of the year.

“We wanted to utilize [Hughes’] athleticism,” Jacot said. “When you have a quarterback who is an athlete that can do more than just throw the ball, he’s going to present problems for the defense. [Hughes] has that ability.”

Ability has never been Hughes’ shortcoming, though the opportunity to play at the varsity level was never abundant at Mater Dei.

“I think he could have been the starting quarterback at Mater Dei, if they just gave him the chance,” said Charles Neal, a former star running back at Esperanza who will play for the North tonight, before heading off to the University of Oregon.

Neal knows of which he speaks since he and North teammates Phillip Van Holland and Matt Cardenas (both out of El Dorado) played with Hughes on Yorba Linda Pop Warner teams before high school.

“He’s a phenomenal player,” said Van Holland, who used to spend the night at Hughes’ house before games with the Pee Wee Division Colts, as well as the Midget Division Aztecs.

“He always made the play when we had to have it,” said Neal, who alongside Van Holland and Hughes in the backfield, helped the Aztecs go 14-0 and win the Orange County and Pacific Southwest championships as eighth-graders.

“I want him to do well, even though I think our defense is pretty good,” Van Holland said of tonight’s reunion with Hughes. “The good thing about him playing quarterback is, I won’t have to chase him, because I won’t be playing defense.”

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.