Sept. 28, 2009
Regardless of the task or challenge at hand, Navy sprint football player Tyler Hawkins always reminds himself that failure is not an option - whether it comes to athletics, academics or any other endeavor.
The results from that mindset speak for themselves.
While a standout in both football and track at Canyon High School (Calif.), Hawkins earned many accolades on the gridiron in leading the Cowboys to significant success, despite nearly all his teammates weighing less than 200 pounds.
"Our coach, Harry Welch, was very hard working and got a lot out of his players. We were very successful, but we had to work because we were a small, undersized school," said Hawkins. "We made up for that by being very disciplined and working hard."
As a senior, he guided the football team to an impressive 13-1 record, a CIF Division II Southern Section title and a No. 14 ranking in the nation according to MaxPreps.com - which was also tops in the state of California. That season, he recorded 4.5 sacks, recovered two fumbles, blocked a punt and two field goals en route to first-team all-state honors on defense.
Despite putting up some impressive figures with one of the top high school programs in the country, Hawkins did not have many Division I football programs clamoring for his talents - mainly due to his lack of size, as he stood at 5'8" and weighed roughly 175 pounds.
"I was talking to a bunch of Ivy League schools - Harvard and Yale in particular," Hawkins recalled. "I also had a letter of assurance from Army and was recruited to play football there."
Hawkins, an impressive high school student, felt compelled like many other young men and women to make a commitment to something beyond himself.
"I've always had an inkling towards joining the military when I was little," said Hawkins. "My grandfather was a Master Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy and I got to hear his stories and places he got to see. Also, I know it sounds cliché-ish, but after September 11th happened, that's when I seriously considering joining or making a career in the military."
Even with the offer to play football at West Point, Hawkins was still undecided as to where he'd go to college as late as February during his senior year. Then, the Canyon Country, Calif., native made the decision to sign his papers to go to the Naval Academy without even a visit to Annapolis.
"I had friends that wanted to go and went to the Naval Academy and found out a lot of information from them," Hawkins stated. "I figured that was the service academy to attend because of the Navy influence and it was the best fit for me in what I wanted to do in the military."
Two months later in April 2006, Hawkins came to find out that his playing career was not over. He began to learn about Navy's sprint football program, a varsity sport that plays by the same rules as college football with one stipulation - all players must weigh 172 pounds or less 48 hours prior to kickoff.
The Midshipmen compete in the Collegiate Sprint Football League and are joined by Army, Cornell, Penn, Princeton and Mansfield. Since Navy's program was first established in 1946, the Mids have enjoyed more success than any other team in league history, as they have won 33 league titles and boast an all-time winning percentage of .826.
For Hawkins, he now had the opportunity to get a first-class education, commit himself to his country and play a sport at Navy that is synonymous with success, much like in high school. Still, he had to make adjustments to the different culture presented to plebe student-athletes when they first arrive on the Yard.
"The first season, like any sport here, was learning how things work at the Academy, especially with sprint football because it was so different - I'd never had to cut weight or anything like that," Hawkins recollected. "I'd been part of a program where winning was expected and where they took things very seriously on the field. But with the sprint football team, there's a little bit more because of the camaraderie and bonds that you build with your teammates and coaches and how you're learning more than football - how to become a leader. It was a very unique experience."
After seeing some time off the bench during his first-few games as a plebe in 2006, Hawkins was called into a starting role at Cornell due to an injury. The Navy linebacker delivered a team-high 14 tackles that night, two for a loss. However, Cornell's defense proved just as stout and an overtime touchdown pass by the Big Red handed the Midshipmen a 16-10 loss - their first since 2003.
"It had been a really long time since I had experienced a loss and knowing about the culture of winning associated with Navy, it was the last thing I would have expected," said Hawkins. "I took it to heart because it was a game that I started. I saw how serious this program takes pride in everything that we do."
Navy went on to win its final-three games of the year, but so did Cornell and, in doing so, claimed the league title.
The goals for the Navy sprint football program do not change from year-to-year - beat Army and win the CSFL Championship. The Midshipmen defeated the Black Knights in both of their meetings, but came short in winning the league title. Therefore, Hawkins and the team were dealt the unfamiliar feeling of not being successful in reaching their objectives.
"I told myself that I don't ever want to do this again," Hawkins stated. "The next time, where I am going to be a leader on the defense with some experience, I am not going to deal with this again. That was awful."
One year later in 2007, Hawkins and the Navy defense came out poised to not let anything stop them. Now in a full-time starting role as a sophomore, Hawkins helped the Midshipmen to back-to-back non-league wins to start the season before a pivotal matchup with defending CSFL champion Cornell at the Pride Bowl in Union, N.J.
This time the result would be different. The defense came out firing, along with the offense, as the Midshipmen stormed out to a 28-0 lead through three quarters and won by a final of 35-14. Hawkins led the defensive effort with 17 tackles, 1.5 of which were for a loss, to earn Pride Bowl Most Valuable Player honors.
"That felt great, given all the hard work and extra effort that we put in to make sure we would never experience that again a year later against the team that took us down," said Hawkins. "We were able to prove to everybody that we were back to our old form."
The Midshipmen rolled past their next-two opponents, Princeton and Penn, by a combined score of 139-7 before taking on Army in the annual Star Game. With the outright CSFL title on the line, Hawkins came through with 14 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, an interception and two pass breakups in holding the Black Knights to 169 yards of total offense and forcing six turnovers. Navy beat Army, 41-13. The objectives were accomplished.
Hawkins finished the year with a team-best 54 tackles to earn First-Team All-CSFL recognition. The Navy defense allowed just 9.8 points, 159.5 yards of total offense and 29.5 rushing yards per game - all tops in the league.
"We count on him to do everything on the field - from setting the defense up in the right place at the right time, taking the calls from the sideline and our defense is based on him making plays," stated Navy head coach Maj. Jake Jenkins, USMC. "He's the starting middle linebacker, so we expect him to make plays and a lot of tackles every game. He's instrumental to our success."
Despite the difficult task of following up that kind of performance, Hawkins and the Navy defense proved it was ready for the challenge in 2008. He again led the team in tackles with 48, four for a loss with three sacks, in producing yet another perfect season, wins over Army and an outright CSFL Championship. For the second-straight year, he was distinguished as a member of the first-team all-league.
Spearheaded by Hawkins, Navy set a school record with only 107 rushing yards allowed in seven games. The Midshipmen pitched three shutouts on the year, including a championship-clinching 24-0 victory over Army in the Star Game. In that contest, he made seven tackles, including a key stop on a fake punt, despite having a nearly dislocated elbow.
"That wasn't a lot of fun having to play with that, but there's always dings and something wrong," commented Hawkins. "You just fight through it, especially against a rival like Army. Once the game starts, those things just go out the window and the emotion carries you through."
"He was the only one on defense who saw the fake punt, made the play and kept Army from getting a first down," Jenkins recalled. "It would have been a huge momentum change had they had gotten that first down, given it was early in the game and we had just scored."
Already in his first game as a senior this fall, Hawkins has stepped up and delivered in a tough spot. Facing Salisbury's junior varsity football team that does not have to partake in the 172-pound weight limit, the Navy linebacker had to remain disciplined in defending against an option offense while fighting against blockers that were at least 90-100 pounds heavier than him and his teammates.
No problem. Hawkins contained the Sea Gulls offense for the entire afternoon and finished with a career-high 20 tackles in leading the Midshipmen to a 21-13 victory - their 17th in a row since that night up in Ithaca, N.Y., back in 2006.
"The defensive mantra is `Regardless of the challenge, we are going to overcome.' He definitely embodies that," said Jenkins. "I'm confident that he will not let anything get in the way of us being successful."
With all the success that Hawkins has had on the gridiron, he has not let that distract him from the main course at hand - excelling in the classroom and preparing for the career that awaits him.
Majoring in honors oceanography, Hawkins owns a 3.92 cumulative grade-point average. He currently ranks 32nd in his class of 1,064 midshipmen in Academic Order of Merit, 12th in Military Order of Merit and 24th in Overall Order of Merit. He has been distinguished on the Commandant's List in each of his first-six semesters, five of which he was also named to the Superintendent's List.
"I just started really good habits in high school. I've always had that expectation of myself to get the best possible grades and achieve the most I can," said Hawkins. "All the work habits that I've developed over the years have carried over to the Academy and have been enhanced. This place teaches you to manage your time better and truly devote yourself into everything that you do."
This past summer, Hawkins spent two months in Tunisia learning the Arabic language and assimilating himself in their culture through a scholarship from the U.S. Department of State.
"I had tried to learn a little bit of Arabic on my own the summer before so that I could take classes here but it just did not work out with my schedule," said Hawkins. "This past summer was my first real exposure to the language. It was a very holistic experience, especially being immersed with the program in Tunisia. Just going over there teaches you a lot and clears up a lot of misconceptions that we have in the West. I feel it's important for how involved we are internationally to have that understanding."
Following graduation, he hopes to employ his philosophy towards challenges and his acquired knowledge from the Academy as a Navy SEAL.
"I think he's going to be very successful in life," Jenkins endorsed. "I highly recommend him for the SEAL program. He has the right mental and physical makeup to do anything he sees fit to do. He set his mind on pursuing that as a path to his life and I think he'll do that. I look forward to seeing him on the battlefield somewhere."
It's fortunate that Tyler Hawkins is on our team - both now and in the future - because failure is simply not an option.
