Why one Charlotte school might have the best running back you probably haven’t heard of

He plows into the defensive line, bulldozing his way past linemen, then suddenly explodes with a burst into the secondary and is headed to the end zone.

Or sometimes, when his team needs only a yard or two, he will simply drive his way through a stacked defensive line and get the necessary yardage.

But that’s not all. He catches passes, has won state championships in the shot put and discus, and plays a couple wind instruments in the school band.

He’s simply the best running back you’ve probably never heard of.

Anthony Hawkins Jr. has been piling up the yardage and filling highlight reels for three years, as a key part of a football program that is enjoying its greatest success ever.

He plays for Hickory Grove Christian, and that’s why you might not know him.

Hawkins, 5-9 and 190 pounds, is part of a team that plays in the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association’s Division 2. The NCISAA’s Division 1 big guys — Providence Day, Charlotte Christian, Rabun Gap School, Christ School — get much of the attention.

Meanwhile, Hickory Grove Christian, under veteran head coach Tad Baucom, just keeps piling up the victories.

Piling up yardage

The Lions, who host Durham’s Mount Zion Academy on Friday at 7 p.m., went 9-2 two years ago. Hawkins rushed for 1,708 yards, had a 9.5-yard average carry, and scored 17 touchdowns.

Last year, against a slightly tougher schedule, Hickory Grove Christian was 9-3. Hawkins ran for 1,861 yards (a 10.8-yard average) and 25 touchdowns. He trailed only Pine Lake Prep’s Gabe Bolivar and Jamal Rule of Salisbury (now at Charlotte Christian) in rushing yardage among N.C. players.

“I’ll tell you the best thing about Anthony,” said Jimmie Quesinberry, head of school at Hickory Grove Christian and a former longtime coach at Forest Hills High. “He’s the nicest kid you’ll meet. He’s a real joy to be around.”

Hawkins went to a number of football camps last fall and winter and said he usually had to introduce himself.

“I’d have to tell people who I was, and I’d give them my stats,” he said. “Our program doesn’t get the publicity that the big schools get.”

He said he took up football and track and field about the same time.

“It started when I got into a tennis ball throwing competition,” he said.

Hawkins threw the ball so far that his coaches immediately switched him to the shot put. The discus throw followed a short time later. He swept both events in the NCISAA Division 2 finals last spring, and his shot put distance was just 5 inches less than that of Division 1 winner Spencer Mermans of Charlotte Country Day.

“He’s an outstanding football player, but he’s also really gifted in the field events,” Baucom said.

About the same time, he joined the Mint Hill Miners youth football program.

‘It was for me’

“They put me in at running back,” Hawkins said. “I knew right away that it was for me.”

He moved to Hickory Grove Christian for middle school, but it was eighth grade before the school had enough players for a football team.

“I played some defense, but running back was for me,” he said.

With 3,952 career yards, a 9.9-yard average, and 52 touchdowns, opponents know that Hawkins is likely to get the ball when Hickory Grove Christian is on offense. That doesn’t seem to matter.

“They see the film on us,” he said of opponents. “They see that I run a lot. So they’re usually waiting for me.”

Baucom said Hawkins’ strength and center of gravity help him as the game goes on.

“Opponents get tired,” Baucom said.

Hawkins said he sees the opposition wearing down as the game progresses.

“The more I go at them, the more tired they tend to get,” he said. “I work hard to make sure that I’m not the one getting tired.”

Hawkins said he is certain that the Lions are a playoff team again this year. What he wants, in his last year of high school, is to see the program go a little farther. Two years ago, Hickory Grove Christian went 9-1 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. Last year, after an 8-2 season, the Lions won a playoff game before losing in the second round.

“I want us to push through the playoffs,” Hawkins said. “I think we can get all the way. We’ve been working toward that.”

“It would be a great way to finish,” he added.