’24 FB/LB Eli Hawkins put on quite a show at the 41st Powerlifting Championships
We aren’t sure of Elijah Hawkins exact physical dimensions. We know he weighs 220 and we watched him lift at the 41st Kentucky Powerlifting HS Championships, men’s varsity division. We can tell you this…K-Dub (Kentucky Wesleyan) appears to have signed an animal. Hawkins combined lift (bench and power clean) was 625-pounds for a meet high and he also won the highest bench at 340 and power clean at 285. That is the trifecta in that sport.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, KPGFootball
I am going to tell you something you will find difficult to believe. There are coaches in the high school game who don’t like power lifters or powerlifting. Our best guess is it interferes with that coach’s established, daily, tee-time.
I don’t know the exact reason but have some theories. Power-lifting is all work and effort. No one is born able to bench press 340+ pounds. One has to work to achieve it.
Powerlifting results also provide tangible evidence of whom should be playing and (perhaps) who shouldn’t. Some coaches may not like having measurable, definitive data sitting in their files that (maybe) their sons have no business playing, haven’t worked hard enough to get on the field, and are in the lineup to the decided detriment of the team and its aspirations.
Power-lifting is all work and effort
Friday Night Fletch
The existence of that type data gets folks fired. I worked for a coach once who didn’t want to time athletes.
He had a son slotted to play a position where speed was paramount and was unsure of his son’s speed so he didn’t time anyone. Better to assume a prospect fast, and not know, than have discernible evidence of the kid’s being slow and perhaps incapable of gaining separation.
If you get around football coaches you will hear the inevitable story of the powerlifting champion that coach had once who “…couldn’t play dead in a western.” Those stories are well-traveled and worn-out, if we are being honest. They are also a load of horse crap.
Physical prowess accented by an athlete’s speed, power, and explosion translates to better play on any athletic field. Football is included.
Here’s a simple fact for you. Every football team in the world has and uses weight training to enhance the performance of its athletes. Every… single… one…!
Strength and conditioning coaches, from big-time college football programs to the NFL, are seven-figure, yearly wage earners because what they do is integral to the team’s success. Weight lifting and training is critical to a team’s success in football and any coach attempting to convince you otherwise is selling you a bill of goods.
Every football team in the world has and uses weight training to enhance the performance of its athletes
Friday Night Fletch
Eli Hawkins just finished his high school career at Logan County. He is signed to play NCAA football in Owensboro, Kentucky (Kentucky Wesleyan University) this next Fall.
In ’23, the powerlifting dynamo gained 657-yards on 104-carries and scored nine (9) rushing TDs. He caught a handful of passes swinging out of the backfield. He was second on the team in scoring.
That’s all a mouthful if he didn’t play defense. He played defense.
Hawkins registered 89-tackles (1st on team), 10-TFLs, 1-sack, 1-FF, 2-FRs. Hawkins not only can play dead in a western, this kid was The Outlaw Josey Wales for much of his prep career.
Well, so much for that theory.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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