Cobb Cherokee In The Game High School Sports Magazine

He describes himself as “just an average student,” and he has only started one season of football at North Cobb High School.  Considering how Travis Hawkins lives life off the gridiron, it makes him one of the most extraordinary high school athletes you’ve never heard of. A team leader who contributes to his church and performs humanitarian acts abroad, one doesn’t have to look far to discover the secret to his moral code.

Hawkins’s number one fan is six-year-old Elijah Hawkins. Intellectually challenged and diagnosed with an enlarged heart, Elijah didn’t speak until he was almost four.  Troubles aside, he most identifies with the fact that North Cobb’s starting quarterback happens to be his big brother. One of two adopted children in the Hawkins family, Elijah first learned to communicate because his 17-year-old brother learned sign language. The random acts of caring don’t end there. “I said to him, ‘This is the stuff that really matters,’” says Hawkins’s mother, Dana. “‘In 20 years, who’s going to remember how far you threw the football? This is the kind of stuff that’s going to dictate what kind of man you’ll become.’”

Hawkins also has an adopted sister, five-year-old Kiara, with whom he enjoys spending time. Like Elijah, Kiara came to the family as a foster child. “We got attached so it worked out well,” Hawkins says. “I just try to hang out with them and make them feel special. I take them to the movies sometimes and I play games with them.”

But Hawkins does more than just play Red Light-Green Light and Madden Football when it comes to his little brother. He teaches Elijah how to play football and basketball for real. He also went to kindergarten one day with Elijah and sat in one of the tiny classroom desks. Foremost among recreational activities are the evenings when Elijah gets invited to a “sleepover” in his big brother’s room. “Elijah thinks it’s a big deal to go downstairs and sleep in his big brother’s room,” their mother says. “Travis will order pizza and they’ll stay up late and play games. How many big brothers do that?”

Just as he mentors his little brother, Hawkins’s older sister does the same for him. Twenty-year-old Briana is a student at Southern Poly Tech, and according to Dana Hawkins, her two oldest children are best friends. The pair occasionally spends time together on campus, and Travis is a hit among Briana’s college friends. “She has taught me a lot about being a good person, following the Bible and not worrying about what other people do,” Travis Hawkins says.

Their mom has written a book, Wrestling with an Angel, about her family’s experiences overcoming hardships.  The book derives its title from the story in Genesis that tells of Jacob wrestling an angel. It’s also a tribute of sorts to the children’s father, Brian Hawkins, who was a national champion wrestler at Southern Colorado State University.

Where Travis Hawkins winds up is anyone’s guess because he has just begun appearing on recruiting radars. “At my height (5’11”), everyone doubts you,” says Hawkins. “If I could go anywhere, I’d look at Clemson or LSU. What it’s looking like now, I might go to Georgia State, Elon, UT-Chattanooga or William and Mary.”

Brian Hawkins thinks his quarterback son measures up regardless of where he plays at the next level. “Sometimes he feels he’s undersized and he wants to be a little bigger and wants the college scouts to look at him. But I know he’s going to be somewhere. He’s coachable, humble…I’d rather take the humble road and let his actions speak on the field. I’m really proud he’s my son,” his father says.

Hawkins has played football since age five but has only recently gotten extensive playing time. He was a backup running back in middle school before trying out as quarterback in high school. He didn’t make the grade as a signal caller his rookie year in high school, playing receiver and defensive back instead. He didn’t start on the freshmen team but he did make the junior varsity lineup as a sophomore, playing just two varsity snaps as a tenth-grader.

“My junior year I really wanted to be able to start,” says Hawkins. “I knew if I wanted to go to college with my size, I’d have to work out really hard and lift weights. Eventually spring came around and I was competing with a senior. Confidencewise, I was real nervous and stuff. God blessed me with the talents and I wound up starting.”

In his debut as Warriors starting quarterback, he tallied more than 150 total yards in a victory over Marietta. In a week seven loss to East Paulding, he had the statistical game of his life, throwing for over 300 yards and three scores. But heading into the season finale, his Warriors were playing for pride with a 2-7 record and facing their cross-county rivals. That’s when Elijah’s big brother stepped up and had his finest hour, executing the final drive in under a minute, culminating in a touchdown pass for an 18-15 win.

“In the last game we were down against South Cobb and we drove the field,” says North Cobb head coach Shane Queen.  “And he converted two third-and-longs. He was persistent and didn’t make any mistakes. So many times in a pressure situation, a kid tries to go above and beyond but he didn’t try to throw the ball 40 yards. Instead, on a third-and-12, he’d throw a 13-yard pass. He took what the defense gave him.”

Hawkins finished with respectable passing numbers for the year: over 1,400 yards with 12 touchdowns. Seeking to become better, he sought the help of a personal football trainer in the offseason.  Jeff Hickson worked with Hawkins on pro-style techniques, throwing and footwork. “Travis took the initiative to find this guy,” his father says. “He wanted to learn how to read defenses. He’s passionate about football. He has that killer instinct and wants to be great.”

Hawkins’s commitment to offseason preparation also earned him and teammates high accolades. In a recent go-around of the NFL-sanctioned 7-on-7 national tournament, his team earned a second-place finish. But since his offseasons are also geared toward community service, he has to be frugal with his time. He almost missed the 7-on-7 tourney a year ago because of a church mission to Philadelphia. He also planned to participate in a mission to Trinidad.  The mission was geared toward assisting an orphanage and mentoring fellow teens. “Lots of them have broken homes and just don’t have a good family and friends that care about them,” he says quietly.

Hawkins was one of only two teenage boys chosen for the mission to Trinidad. He had to contribute $600 on his own to finance the trip. While he already works part-time as an usher at a movie theater, he had to take additional jobs to finance his mission. “He went around and asked everyone what he could do,” his mother says. “For instance, he’s dog-watching and there’s a deck he has to wash. Some of them gave him money, and he has to finish these assignments when he gets back.”

Hawkins is a leader in a local Christian-athlete organization called Alpha Unit, for which he leads Bible study sessions and other group activities once or twice a week. “He is a leader by example and kids follow him well,” says Queen. “When he steps into the huddle, the kids respect him because of the way he lives his life. When he talks, people listen.”

It’s difficult to find someone who isn’t a Hawkins fan. His mother has seven siblings, all but one of whom saw at least one game last season, flying to Georgia from as far as Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. “They were taking vacations around his season,” his mother explains. “We would all be in a row with cowbells. I think we kind of blew Coach Queen away. To have Travis as a quarterback, everyone is just beyond thrilled.”

In addition to being named Most Valuable Offensive Back last year, Hawkins was selected as the team’s Ultimate Warrior “My teammates voted on the player who does the right thing when no one is watching, for leading by example,” he explains. “I was very honored. It is one of my most prized awards.”

Hawkins has run track in the past and has designs on wrestling and basketball. But his prime focus is football. He’d like to see another 10-win season like the one the Warriors put together during his freshman season of 2007. More than that, he’d like to lead his team past the first round of the playoffs, something that hasn’t happened in 30 years. “I feel like I can be a leader,” he says. “I would work so hard. I feel like I’m quick and can make quick decisions. I feel like my work ethic is pretty on point.”

That goes for academics, too, where he carries a 3.0 grade point average. “He’s good at more of the social sciences. Writing, psychology, anything that involves helping other people,” says his father. “That’s why he’s part of the mission team. He has excellent communication skills. He reads people really well.”

If he reads defenses nearly as well this fall, Hawkins might realize his wish of reaching the second round of the playoffs and perhaps beyond. According to Queen, Hawkins’s success can’t be measured by wins and losses alone.

“I just admire him because of the way he lives his life,” says Queen. “That’s the thing that makes him different. He’s a strong, Christian young man and sticks to his principles. I’ve got a 13-year-old boy that’s in the eighth grade and if he grows up to be like Travis, I can’t ask for anything more.” •