In which BracketCat counts down the 70th day until the 2025 kickoff with a profile of Kansas State offensive lineman Gus Hawkins.

#70 Gus Hawkins

Redshirt Freshman | 6-7 | 314 lbs. | Shawnee, Kansas

Position: Offensive Line
Previous College: None
Projection: Second-String
Status: On Scholarship

Gus Hawkins (May 21, 2005) is a physically imposing offensive tackle who is majoring in engineering. Although he already was sufficiently sized to play in the Big 12 Conference last season, he redshirted in order to add a whopping 44 pounds to his already imposing frame.

And Hawkins still earned his first career playing time against Cincinnati, seeing action on three offensive snaps, as he retained his redshirt. From all accounts, he was running with the 2s in spring camp and has a very good chance of appearing on the fall two-deep.

Hawkins played his final two prep seasons under head coach Joel Applebee at Mill Valley High School, while he spent his first two years in high school at Scott City.

He was regarded as the 52nd-best overall player in the Class of 2024 by On3, while the organization rated him as the sixth-best offensive tackle in the nation and top overall prospect in the state of Kansas.

Hawkins also ranked No. 245 nationally and No. 24 among offensive tackles by 247Sports.

He was voted to the Top 11 team among all classes in the state of Kansas, and was an all-state honoree by the Kansas Football Coaches Association and KSHSAA Covered. He also was on the Top 11 team and a first-team all-state honoree in 2023 by The Wichita Eagle.

Hawkins was named the 2023 Sports in Kansas Offensive Lineman of the Year among big classes, in addition to being voted as a Top 11 player and a first-team all-state honoree by the organization, and was the 2023 Kansas Sports Central Offensive Lineman of the Year.

He earned first-team all-state honors as a junior from the Eagle after winning two state championships with the Jaguars, part of the school’s five straight titles.

At Mill Valley, Hawkins prepped with three current K-State players: safety Mikey Bergeron, defensive end Truman Griffith and offensive lineman Sam Hecht (plus Chris Tennant).

He also competed in basketball and track for the Jaguars, and was the first member of K-State’s 2024 class, committing all the way back in December 2022.

Hawkins picked K-State over a competing offer from Ole Miss, as well as interest from Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and North Dakota State. His primary recruiter was his former position coach, Conor Riley, who had this to say early last season about him:

Especially coming out of a bye week, you’re starting to see guys who are developing more and more this past week, and for the past few weeks. I can speak to myself, I’ll start there — Gus Hawkins is doing a really, really good job. Navarro Schunke, both guys who have taken some of those reps during our developmental stuff last week, where I really thought those guys did some fantastic things.