Whichever NFL team announces Jaylinn Hawkins’ name in the NFL draft later this week, the California safety prospect promises it can just plug him right in.

The Buena Park, California, native wasn’t even meant to play on the defensive side of the ball when he arrived at Cal in 2015; Hawkins was a four-star wide receiver recruit out of Buena Park High School. After he arrived on campus, however, he moved to the defensive side of the ball, where the Golden Bears were in greater need of help.

After suffering a season-ending shoulder injury, Hawkins took a redshirt year and was raring to go in 2016, working his way into the starting lineup toward the end of the season.

His versatility was on display most in Hawkins’ signature 2018 season, in which he lit up the stat sheet and opponents alike. In 13 games and 12 starts, Hawkins posted 32 tackles, including 3.5 for loss, three pass breakups and a Pac-12 leading six interceptions, good for third-most in the FBS. What’s more, he entered the Golden Bears’ record books; his six picks rank eighth all-time for the program.

In his senior season, though didn’t nab as many interceptions, Hawkins still led the Golden Bears with three picks and added two forced fumbles. He also added a career-high 53 tackles (4.5 for loss).

Though some scouting reports will caution that at the NFL level, Hawkins’ only viable use is as a box safety, he points to the fact that he lined up at corner before moving to safety at Cal as evidence that he’s a chess piece his future team can use all over the field. To boot, he also returned kicks, blocked on punt returns and served as the Mike, the quarterback of the defense.

“I’m a versatile DB. I’m a plug-in type of player,” Hawkins says by phone. “I’m a football player. I was productive at corner until I got hurt, moved to safety, played in the box, on the perimeter and also in the slot. I can do it all, whether a team wants to put me in the post or play me as a quarter safety or a half safety.”

The big question mark for scouts and teams when it comes to the Cal product will be his speed. Coming off a hamstring injury ahead of the NFL combine, Hawkins elected only to participate in the vertical (35.5 inches) and broad (117 inches) jumps and some defensive drills. He says he has two takeaways from his showing.

“I obviously feel what I showcased at the combine as far as movement, footwork, athletic skills, I think I had the best feet and breaks. My transitions were nice and smooth, and I showed speed as well,” Hawkins says. “I didn’t get to showcase the 40, but I have high production and my film speaks for itself.

Of course, Hawkins was robbed of his chance to run the 40 at Cal’s since-canceled pro day, which had been scheduled for March 20.

But Hawkins is staying positive even as the novel coronavirus wreaks unprecedented havoc on his and his fellow draft classmates’ pre-draft preparation. “At this point,” he says, “I have to let it go due to the circumstances.”

Hawkins also address another note scouts might have made in their notebooks early in his Golden Bears career: the three targeting penalites he took. Noting that he didn’t have any in his senior season, Hawkins says he has learned to balance his hard-hitting instincts with fundamentals.

“I play like an old-school safety sometimes and wanna take somebody’s head off, but you gotta play smart and you gotta protect yourself,” is Hawkins’ honest assessment. “Injuries can happen from going high or aiming high; you wanna lead with the shoulder. I’ve been doing that this season, and you can see I had no targeting calls.”

Like any defensive back with a nose for the ball, Hawkins has to weigh making a play with the discipline to fulfill his assignment—or set up the other half of Cal’s ferocious safety duo, Ashtyn Davis, make his own play. Again, Hawkins urges scouts and NFL teams to go back to his tape and see that he’s rarely caught out of position and lauds his above-average eyes and instincts.

“My assignment in playing football,” Hawkins says. He insists that it’s a defensive back’s football IQ that allows him to make those plays. While “you might get a gimme here and there out of luck,” he continues, “if you want to make those plays where you rob someone, that’s based off IQ and skill set.

Knowing your assignment is ultimately what allows you to play fast, Hawkins says. “That’s the only way you can really make those plays and feel confident, because you know what you’re doing from film study. Late nights being up studying my playbook pays off,” he adds. “I love studying the game; combine that with skill and these things are gonna happen.”

It’s that play-making instinct and versatility Hawkins is hoping catches the eye of an NFL general manager on Friday or Saturday. He’ll be watching from Buena Park, where he’s been training, with his family. Both Mom and Dad were athletes in their own right; Mom, Angie, ran track and Dad, Jermaine, played football.

Then there’s Hawkins’ uncle, Jeremiah, who’s a wide receiver at Cal.

That’s right—is, not was. Jeremiah is Jermaine’s much younger brother, and he and Jaylinn were teammates the past two years. Or, more accurately, Jaylinn was lining up across from his uncle the past two years, glaring him down the whole time.

Hawkins called playing with his uncle “one of the greatest experiences I really could have, looking back at it.” It was “something somebody could dream of,” he says. “It was fun going against a player of his caliber every day in practice. Matched up against him in coverage, there would be days where he gets me and I’m like, ‘Damn, what going on?’ And there are days where I get him.”

“He’s a big trash talker,” Hawkins adds, laughing. “I’m a trash-talker, too…but I’m older.”

Mom and Dad are also entrepreneurs, managing a dental office and owning a barbershop, respectively. They also passed that trait on to their son.

In a course at Cal, where Hawkins majored in American studies with a focus in sports management, he and some of his classmates started a project that launched into a full-blown tech start-up. The product, for which they have developed two prototypes, is a wearable device that tracks athletes’ speed, endurance and velocity.

While many of their plans for the company’s future have been put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team won a pitch against some other sports tech start-ups. What makes his product different from others, Hawkins says, is that it runs on a simpler database coaches can understand. For existing sports training wearables, the data can be incredibly complex, requiring a technician to relay. “We’re cutting out the middle man and making our product cheaper so we can make it more affordable to FCS or high schools or Division II programs, because everybody doesn’t have these types of devices,” he says. 

It’s clear that the versatility with which he plays is applicable to the rest of Hawkins’ life, too. He’s spoken with a lot of NFL teams, and he’s feeling confident that someone will see him as the perfect fit for their program.

“Any team gets me is getting a player that’s gonna make an instant impact on the field,” he says, “but also in the locker room.”

[vertical-gallery id=617984]