While the kicker position often gets overlooked during the recruitment process, Wyatt Hawkins has gained the attention of recruiters and teams across the league. After receiving First Team All League honors, he hopes to have caught the eye of a D1 football team for a chance to compete at the next level. 

The first thing people notice about Hawkins is his powerful leg strength, which helped him endzone a majority of his kickoffs. Not many kickers at the highschool level can consistently endzone kickoffs and that quickly separated him from the rest of the competition in the league. His ability to endzone gave the defense good field position and shut down any opportunity for a return. 

“When I kick my kickoffs in the endzone they are considered touchbacks and that means the opposing team has to go 80 yards to score a touchdown” said Hawkins. 

Transitioning to the college level, the kickoff distance is pushed even further back. Hawkins ability to endzone even at the college distance creates upside for his recruitment profile. One school has already taken interest in Hawkins, as he has been in touch with a recruitment coordinator there.

“I am currently talking to the Eastern Washington University special teams coordinator,” said Hawkins. “They are a D1 school that I would be interested in going to”.

All of Hawkins teammates and coaches know he has what it takes to compete as a D1 kicker. Players commented on his work ethic and talked about all the offseason work he put in. 

“What’s crazy is that Hawkins probably put in the most work during the offseason on the entire team. Whether it was an off-day or after a practice, he was always kicking field goals and improving his accuracy/distance. We were shocked when we started watching him hit 55 yard field goals, which is super impressive” said senior Dylan Quinn. 

His ability to hit long field goals was so valuable for the team down the stretch of the season. Against Oceanside, he hit two clutch field goals in a game only won by two points. Most teams have to go for it on fourth down because their kicker isn’t capable of hitting field goals, but the team had full confidence that Hawkins would deliver. 

“Coach Mac called the field goal unit out in a close game versus Oceanside, and we weren’t surprised with the decision at all. The field goals were in Wyatts range and he ended up being the reason we won” said senior holder Jack Geraghty. 

Hawkins hopes that recruiters will be able to look at his game film and like what they see. Now he’s staying in contact with coaches and hoping that he’ll receive an offer. 

“All I can do now is wait. I’m proud of how my season went, but I’m ready for the next stage of my football career” said Hawkins.