Lexington high school football coach to lead all-star team on national TV

Bryan Station High School’s Phillip Hawkins has been named head coach of the West squad for the 2024 All-American Bowl, a showcase of the top 100 high school football players in America.

“It’s the ultimate opportunity for a high school coach,” Hawkins told the Herald-Leader on Friday. “When I went as an assistant coach (in 2016), it was the greatest thing I’d ever done. That’s how amazing the experience was.”

The game will kick off at 1 p.m. Jan. 6 at the Alamodome in San Antonio and will be shown live on NBC. Coaches for both the East and West squads were announced Friday. Hawkins will coach opposite East squad head coach Bryant Appling of Buford High School, Buford, Ga.

Hawkins’ selection as a head coach puts him on a exclusive list for an event in its 23rd year. NBC Sports touts an annual television viewership of more than 4 million for the game.

“I’m excited, and I’m looking forward to going,” Hawkins said. “I learned a lot about coaching football when I was there last time because you’re with some coaches on that staff from some serious programs.”

Hawkins was last an assistant at the All-American Bowl in 2016, the year Kentucky’s Kash Daniel (Paintsville), Landon Young (Lafayette) and Drake Jackson (Woodford County) took part.

Joining Hawkins’ staff will be Bryan Station assistant coach J.T. Haskins Sr. and Central High School head coach Marvin Dantzler.

“I’m bringing J.T. because it will be a good experience for him and he’s my right-hand man,” Hawkins said. “It will be unbelievable for him, too.”

Hawkins led the Defenders to an 11-4 record this past season and its second consecutive region championship. Bryan Station lost 41-20 to Trinity in this year’s UK HealthCare Sports Medicine State Football Finals Class 6A championship game.

Hawkins has a long history with the All-American Bowl organizers as a past assistant at the high school event and as a past head coach at the middle school-level U.S. Army Youth All-American Game. His seven-day itinerary includes coaches and players meetings and practices at both the Alamodome and Trinity University.

“My roster is full of Alabama, Georgia, Oregon commits. It’s an unbelievable roster,” Hawkins said.

The All-American Bowl was first held in 2000 and boasts 562 eventual NFL draft picks; 97 Super Bowl champions; 217 Pro Bowl selections and 18 Heisman finalists, including Bryce Young, Christian McCaffrey, Tim Tebow, Derrick Henry, DeVonta Smith and Trevor Lawrence.

Frederick Douglass head coach Nathan McPeek was selected as an All-American Bowl assistant coach in 2021 and 2022. Former Douglass standout and current Kentucky offensive lineman Jager Burton is the last Kentucky native to be part of the event as a player in 2021.

Kentucky signee Elijah Groves, a 6-4, 215-pound linebacker out of East Robertson High School in Cross Plains, Tennessee, is on this year’s East squad.

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