‘Diamond In The Rough’
JMU Commit Hawkins Recommended By Former DL Coach
Posted: February 5, 2013
HARRISONBURG — Kyre Hawkins is a recent James Madison recruit, and only a slightly less recent Madison recruiting target.
JMU found him, offered him a scholarship and got him to commit within a span of six days.
“I don’t really know what to think about it,” said Hawkins, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound linebacker from football power Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Baltimore. “I’m just very happy and appreciative that they did find me. I feel like I have a lot to offer for their program, and they have a lot to offer me.”
The class of 2013 will be official Wednesday, the first day high school players can sign with colleges. And, if it wasn’t for J.C. Price, Hawkins — whom a JMU source described as a potential “diamond in the rough” — might not have ended up at Madison.
Price, the Dukes’ former defensive line coach who left for Division I-A Marshall last year, is friends with Dunbar coach Lawrence Smith, who said Price came to Dunbar to visit. Smith said he recommended Hawkins to Price, who then recommended Hawkins — likely too small for I-A — to I-AA Madison.
“J.C. always recruited Dunbar, and I’ve been knowing him a long time,” said Smith, who has been at Dunbar since 2000 and the head coach since 2007. “We just developed a great friendship. He just signed one of my wide receivers up at Marshall, so we stay in contact.
“... This time of year, when coaches come in, I show him a kid — ‘I got a kid that I really felt that was looked over. I got a kid I really feel can play there.’ So I showed [Price] some film on [Hawkins] and … J.C. saw him and eyed him up and looked at his transcripts and looked at his SATs, and that’s when he got on the phone.”
Smith said Price called JMU, and later, Hawkins said, JMU assistant defensive line coach Dominique White visited his house and offered him a scholarship. Hawkins took an official visit two weeks ago and committed last week.
The JMU source said Hawkins, basically, slipped through the cracks.
Hawkins transferred to Dunbar before his senior year after spending the first three years of high school at Archbishop Curley, a private school in Baltimore that, Smith said, gets limited recruiting exposure — at least compared to Dunbar, which is the alma mater of former West Virginia star Tavon Austin. The Poets won state championships five of the last seven years, including in 2012.
Smith also moved Hawkins to middle linebacker from defensive end — a move, Smith said, that made Hawkins more marketable to colleges. Hawkins said JMU coaches had him watch film of its current middle linebacker, Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Robertson, on his visit — the implication being that Hawkins will stay at middle linebacker, a position he likes because of the leadership involved .
“I got like 24 kids playing Division I football right now, so my thing is that I put kids in a position also that’s going to help me and is also going to help them get better recruited,” Smith said. “I mean, he’s too small to be a defensive end, and we moved him to linebacker, because he was smart enough and he ran well enough and picked up the scheme pretty well.”
Hawkins said he was timed at 4.56 seconds in the 40-yard dash at a camp last summer at the University of Maryland, and Smith lauded the 18-year-old Hawkins’ athletic ability. Hawkins — who had 114 tackles, four sacks and two interceptions this season — also is a standout wrestler.
JMU found him, offered him a scholarship and got him to commit within a span of six days.
“I don’t really know what to think about it,” said Hawkins, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound linebacker from football power Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Baltimore. “I’m just very happy and appreciative that they did find me. I feel like I have a lot to offer for their program, and they have a lot to offer me.”
The class of 2013 will be official Wednesday, the first day high school players can sign with colleges. And, if it wasn’t for J.C. Price, Hawkins — whom a JMU source described as a potential “diamond in the rough” — might not have ended up at Madison.
Price, the Dukes’ former defensive line coach who left for Division I-A Marshall last year, is friends with Dunbar coach Lawrence Smith, who said Price came to Dunbar to visit. Smith said he recommended Hawkins to Price, who then recommended Hawkins — likely too small for I-A — to I-AA Madison.
“J.C. always recruited Dunbar, and I’ve been knowing him a long time,” said Smith, who has been at Dunbar since 2000 and the head coach since 2007. “We just developed a great friendship. He just signed one of my wide receivers up at Marshall, so we stay in contact.
“... This time of year, when coaches come in, I show him a kid — ‘I got a kid that I really felt that was looked over. I got a kid I really feel can play there.’ So I showed [Price] some film on [Hawkins] and … J.C. saw him and eyed him up and looked at his transcripts and looked at his SATs, and that’s when he got on the phone.”
Smith said Price called JMU, and later, Hawkins said, JMU assistant defensive line coach Dominique White visited his house and offered him a scholarship. Hawkins took an official visit two weeks ago and committed last week.
The JMU source said Hawkins, basically, slipped through the cracks.
Hawkins transferred to Dunbar before his senior year after spending the first three years of high school at Archbishop Curley, a private school in Baltimore that, Smith said, gets limited recruiting exposure — at least compared to Dunbar, which is the alma mater of former West Virginia star Tavon Austin. The Poets won state championships five of the last seven years, including in 2012.
Smith also moved Hawkins to middle linebacker from defensive end — a move, Smith said, that made Hawkins more marketable to colleges. Hawkins said JMU coaches had him watch film of its current middle linebacker, Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Robertson, on his visit — the implication being that Hawkins will stay at middle linebacker, a position he likes because of the leadership involved .
“I got like 24 kids playing Division I football right now, so my thing is that I put kids in a position also that’s going to help me and is also going to help them get better recruited,” Smith said. “I mean, he’s too small to be a defensive end, and we moved him to linebacker, because he was smart enough and he ran well enough and picked up the scheme pretty well.”
Hawkins said he was timed at 4.56 seconds in the 40-yard dash at a camp last summer at the University of Maryland, and Smith lauded the 18-year-old Hawkins’ athletic ability. Hawkins — who had 114 tackles, four sacks and two interceptions this season — also is a standout wrestler.