Wake Forest’s big lineman has huge impact

Dexter Lawrence said he used to be fat. Now he is big, tremendously big, and is one of the best high school football players in the nation.

The 6-foot-5, 312-pound Wake Forest High junior defensive lineman manhandled Garner in last week’s 27-13 state semifinal victory. He was credited with 10 tackles, two sacks and two hurries when he pressured the Trojan quarterback into throwing too soon.

He helped the Cougars advance to Saturday night’s N.C. High School Athletic Association 4AA state championship for the second straight time. Wake Forest will play Charlotte’s Mallard Creek Mavericks at 8 p.m., at BB&T Field in Winston-Salem.

Mallard Creek beat Wake Forest 59-21 in the finals last year.

Lawrence believes the Cougars are capable of a different result this year. He was sensational in the destruction last week of what had been a productive Garner offense. He tossed blockers about, enveloped ball carriers who disappeared beneath him, stuffed plays inside and dashed outside to smash runners from behind on sweeps.

“He was unbelievable,” said Garner head coach Thurman Leach. “He is a great, great high school football player. One of the best that I’ve ever seen.”

National recruiting services agree. The Rivals.com online recruiting site has him ranked among the top 10 college prospects in the Class of 2016.

“We knew he was big, and we knew that he could be a great high school football player when he came here in the ninth grade,” said Wake Forest coach Reggie Lucas. “But he has gotten a lot better. He is really big, strong and surprisingly quick for someone that size.”

At the heart of the defense is Lawrence, who will line up in one of the Cougars’ three defensive line positions. Most often throughout the season he has protected that spot from any offensive intrusions.

Only three teams have managed to rush for 100 or more yards on the Cougars, whose front also includes sophomore Zach Gill (6-5, 270) and senior Antwain Terry (6-2, 270). All three are expected to be Division I college recruits.

Lawrence has more than 30 college scholarship offers, including ones from many of the most prominent programs in the country.

It is a little hard for Julia Parker, his mother, to believe. He was 6 pounds, 9 ounces at birth, and the surprising quickness she sees on the field is not often exhibited when, for example, he is asked to take out the trash.

“I am just a single parent who works to provide for her family as best I can,” said Parker, a detention officer for the Durham County Sheriff’s Office. “And to suddenly be told that my son is one of the best players in the country and can go to all of these colleges is a little overwhelming.”

Lawrence was born in Maryland but reared in Arkansas. Parker ran 400 meters at the University of Arkansas-Pinebluff, and Lawrence’s father, Dexter Lawrence, was a linebacker at Arkansas State.

Eye-opener

Parker moved to Fayetteville in 2005 and got a job at the women’s prison in Raleigh. The commute grew tiresome so she moved to Raleigh in 2008 and later moved closer to Wake Forest after Dexter and his younger brother Devon Lawrence, the Cougars’ 5-foot-10, 165-pound freshman starter at running back, expressed a desire to go to what was then Wake Forest-Rolesville High.

But Dexter Lawrence almost didn’t play football as a freshman. Basketball was his first love, and Lawrence wasn’t sure he’d play football until Lucas visited the family and talked to him about his potential in football.

“The big thing was that Dexter was scared he’d have to play on the junior varsity as a freshman,” his mother recalled. “Coach Lucas said Dexter could begin the season with the varsity and see how he did. He did well.”

He did well enough that Clemson offered him a scholarship that season.

“I think the Clemson offer sort of opened his eyes,” Lucas said.

Lawrence has transformed his body through his work ethic in the weight room. He was 5 feet 11 and weighed 270 pounds as a seventh-grader. “I was fat boy,” he said.

He has added weight, but lost body fat.

“He started growing and getting stronger,” Parker said. “His body has really changed.”

Lawrence can bench-press more than 370 pounds, squat 500 pounds and power clean 290 pounds. He is getting quicker, despite adding size.

Lawrence can’t explain the brothers’ difference in build. “I’ve got no idea,” he said. “We’ve always been different.”

Parker, their mother, said Dexter always has been a big eater, still is. “If we have chicken, I’ll cook the whole big family pack,” she said. “Dexter will eat at least six pieces.

“I guess he got his height from my side of the family,” said Parker, who is 5 feet 10. “We had some tall relatives. Dexter’s father was about 6 foot, but was thick and strong.”

Size, quickness, strength

Wake Forest defensive line position coach Blake Brooks, the father of former NFL wide receiver Bucky Brooks, told Lucas during Lawrence’s freshman year that Lawrence had the potential to be a tremendous player.

“The size, the quickness, the strength,” Lucas said.

Plus Lawrence at times plays with a fury.

“It is like I have two personalities,” he said. “Off the field, I’m nice and humble. But I get on the field and I love to play football.”

Playing for Wake Forest has been all that Lawrence could hope for.

“The community is really there for us,” he said.

This is Wake Forest’s third trip to the finals in five years. The first trip ended in a 44-0 mauling by Charlotte Butler. Last year, the Mavericks led 59-7 in the fourth quarter.

“I think we are better this year,” Lawrence said. “We are bigger, more experienced and we don’t have has many injuries. They have a great team, but I’m looking forward to the game.

“I think I am more excited about playing this year than last. Getting back has been a goal all season.”

He is expected to line up across from Mallard Creek senior Jerome Brown, a big fellow himself, 6 feet 4, 280 pounds. Plus, if the Mavericks are like most other teams, Brown will get help blocking Lawrence.

Lawrence will line up many times within a yard or so of Mallard Creek quarterback James Smith, the engine that drives the Mavericks. How often Lawrence can close that gap may have a big impact on whether Wake Forest can avenge last year’s loss.

This story was originally published December 11, 2014 at 6:02 PM.