Penn State Football Recruit Spotlight: OG Nick Dawkins
Nick Dawkins stands as a formidable force in the middle of the offensive line as a huge player for his age.
Nick Dawkins enrolled early and certainly looked the part during his final season at Parkland High School in Allentown. Dawkins stands at 6-foot-4, 300 pounds and was ranked as the seventh-best player overall in the state of Pennslyvania from 247Sports.
Follow along with our Penn State football recruit spotlight series:
TE Theo Johnson
S Enzo Jennings
RB Caziah Holmes
DT Cole Brevard
WR KeAndre Lambert
WR Jaden Dottin
CB Joseph Johnson
LB Tyler Elsdon
DE Bryce Mostella
DT Fatorma Mulbah
Dawkins held a slew of offers including every Ivy League school, Boston College, Indiana, Lousiville, Northwestern, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, UCF, Vanderbilt and West Virginia to name a few. And if the name sounds familiar, it’s because he is indeed the son of former NBA star Darryl Dawkins.
Seemingly unwavering during his recruitment, Dawkins officially committed to the Nittany Lions in April of last season, visited multiple times and even came to the prospect camp in June before signing his letter of intent in December and enrolling in January. He became the first addition for new offensive line coach Phil Trautwein, who took over for Matt Limegrover.
While he’ll be joined by four other freshman offensive linemen this season, Dawkins stands as the only one of them to enrol early and take part in winter, spring drills as well as the Blue-White game. His can-do attitude was echoed during his recruitment.
“I’m ready to get to work,” Dawkins said. “It’s good to show up and put in my work and show the coaches that I’m prepared to play like I’m ready. I’ll do whatever for the team.”
Nick Dawkins will certainly have his work cut out for him to see some valuable playing time in his first season on campus with all but Steven Gonzalez returning among offensive linemen with at least 275 snaps played a season ago. Still, adding value and depth along the offensive line is integral as it has quickly become one of the more important factors in college football and the bridge between a great offensive line and a mediocre offensive line can mean the difference between wins and losses.
We’ll be watching closely as the vocal leader of the 2020 recruiting class looks to become the leader for the entire offensive line as a unit.