Dinkins beginning to see big-time offers roll in
THE ELITE 11 CLASS OF 2021: This is the eighth part of an 11-part series highlighting the top football players in the Newton County Appeal coverage area for the upcoming season. Local coaches nominated the players, while the Elite 11 preseason football team is selected solely by Newton County Appeal sports editor Robbie Robertson. The players are being revealed one at a time, in no particular order.
When it’s all said the done, Lake football coach Tate Hanna thinks that Kalvin Dinkins could be the best player he has ever coached.
As Hanna enters his 22nd season in Mississippi high school football, Dinkins is his once-in-a-career kind of player. The senior defensive lineman possesses a unique skill set at 6-foot-3, 320 pounds. He can run a 4.9 in the 40-yard dash and can dunk a basketball and has the wing span of a 6-foot-9 player.
“I’ve coached in the Mississippi-Alabama game, the Bernard Blackwell game and for the amount of football that he has played, he is probably the best I have ever seen,” Hanna said. “Had he been playing since the ninth grade, he is probably in the top five recruits in the state. He has that type of potential. He’s just going to better.”
Currently, Dinkins is ranked as the No. 15 recruit in the state in one poll and No. 14 in another. Early in the summer, Dinkins committed to Southern Miss but recently backed away from that and started to “explore his options.” He currently has offers from Baylor, Southern Miss, Air Force, Arkansas State, Indiana, Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulane and UAB.
“All of this recruiting has been really eye opening,” Dinkins said. “Every move you make, they are looking at you. But I’m exploring my options right now. I went on an official visit to Baylor and really liked it. The Mississippi State coaches say they are coming to see me during the season.”
Dinkins said the recruiting process has been a learning experience.
“It’s kind of complicated,” Dinkins said. “It’s like a game that you have to know have to play. You have to know where you want to go and what you want to do. Coaches call and text you all day every day. Sometimes it gets old, it’s a lot of phone calls you have to make. You have to get to know who you want to play for.
Hanna said there is interest from Mississippi State and Ole Miss and the veteran coach said he believes those SEC offers will come before it’s all said and done.
“With him just playing two seasons and basically 15 games and playing a new position, his upside is so big,” Hanna said. “I think it’s just a matter of exposure. He is so big and explosive. He’s a real 6-foot-3, 315 pounds and runs a 4.9 in the 40. You can’t teach that and can’t coach it. He’s a 1,500-1,600 pound power lifter and can probably do more than that. He’s a great kid and works hard in the weight room. He’s a leader in practice now and he led the offense and big man group. He plays H-back and tight end for us.”
Dinkins is a two-time Class 2A all-state player for the Hornets. He was an all-state tight end as a sophomore and a defensive lineman as a junior. Most of the colleges are recruiting him as a defensive lineman.
“On defense line, he’s going to play a little bit of everything,” Last year he concentrated more at the 4-5 technique. We are going to put him at the nose and move him around a lot. People started running away from him last year and we’ve got to do a better job as coaches of moving him around.”
Hanna said Dinkins will have to be the man on defense for the Hornets this season.
“He is going to be our dog on defense,” Hanna said. “He’s going to be the guy who has to get the big stop for us and the guy who gets everybody else going. In the spring, he led in everything we did. He’s going to be the first one in every drill and then be the last one. And that’s the kind of kid you want. I think his role is going to be a leader and getting guys around him to play up to his potential.”
On offense, Dinkins will also play multiple positions with some time at H-back, tight end and even some at fullback.
“The last two years, he has been our go-to when we wanted to run the football,” Hanna said. “We either put him at h-back or at tight end. We were going to run behind him and everybody knew it when he went in. I expect it to be the same thing this season. A bunch of college coaches like him at the tight end, lineman as well. He is going to play a lot of offense this year.”
Dinkins is also a standout in the weight room with a 3.8 GPA and a 22 on the ACT.
“He’s a smart kid and his knowledge of the game is just now getting to where most kids are when they come up in high school,” Hanna said. “He just now started concentrating on football. He’s finally getting to where he is watching the film and learning stuff. He’s probably one of the best all-around kids that you can have. I have been doing this for 22 years and he’s one of the best. I tell college coaches all the time that there isn’t a bad thing I can say about the kid.”
In the end, Hanna said there are several things that the college coaches like.
“His upside is unbelievable,” Hanna said. “When you weigh 317 pounds and can jump up and two-hand dunk a basketball, that’s just explosive. All of the college coaches can’t get over how explosive he is and how big he is. He’s still a little green on his mechanics but going to these camps and working with all of these different coaches is going to help him. He will be bigger and better by the time we get to the season and I think eventually State and Ole Miss will eventually offer him.”
In the weight room, Dinkins has developed into one of the best lifters in the state, finishing second in his weight class last season. Dinkins said he was bench pressing 350 pounds, squatting 700 and deadlifting 600 pounds.
