Blue White Illustrated

WHAT HE DID Hawkins missed his sen- ior season as he recovered from a stress fracture in his foot. Archbishop Moeller finished its regular season with a 4-6 record and was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs. As a junior, Hawkins totaled 70 tackles, eight sacks and three forced fumbles. He is the son of former Cincinnati Ben- gals defensive back Artrell Hawkins Jr., who is originally from Johnstown, Pa., and the grandson of Artrell Hawkins Sr., who played for Pitt and the Steel- ers. WHAT HE WON Rated a four-star prospect by Rivals, Hawkins is consid- ered the 13th-best player in Ohio for the Class of 2018 and is ranked 22nd nation- ally at defensive tackle. He received All- City and All-Region honors from Tri- StateFootball.com following his junior season. WHERE HE VISITED Hawkins amassed more than 40 scholarship offers. Among the schools he checked out were Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Notre Dame and Pitt, but the ones he visited most frequently were Penn State and Cincinnati. The Nittany Lions and Bearcats were his two final- ists, and the latter school was in the lead for a while. His parents attended Cincinnati, and he was familiar with both the school and many members of its 2018 recruiting class. But in the end, he chose the Nittany Lions, commit- ting last August. QUOTABLE Hawkins: "I wanted to maximize the kind of player I can be, and I felt like Penn State would allow me to do that. At Penn State, that's not going to be an issue at all. If you just look at my class, we have a handful of really good defensive linemen who can come in and excel at defensive end or tackle. The competition is going to be really high." PHIL'S TAKE Hawkins is a high-motor three-technique defensive tackle with one of the most explosive =rst steps that I've seen on =lm for the Class of 2018. He does an exceptional job of using his hands and not allowing o?ensive line- men to get to his body, and he sheds blocks with perfect technique. Hawkins has the potential to add 20 pounds with- out losing any of his lateral quickness. I expect him to play the three-technique position at Penn State, where he may re- mind some fans of current defensive tackle Kevin Givens. ■ CINCINNATI KID Hawkins gave strong consid- eration to the hometown Bearcats, for whom his fa- ther had played in college, but instead chose Penn State last August. Photo courtesy of Ri- vals.com P L A Y E R B I O S Penn State Athletics AENEAS HAWKINS RIVALS ★★★★ | POS DT | HT 6-2 | WT 280 | HOME Cincinnati, Ohio | SCHOOL Moeller

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