Originally from Godfrey, Illinois, Hawkins graduated from Jersey Community High School in 2001 where he excelled at basketball, football, and track.

Hawkins was selected as first-team all-state and all-conference as a senior, and was named the Metro-East Area Player of the Year by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2000.

Hawkins began his college career at Purdue on a football scholarship before transferring and playing his final two seasons at Illinois State University.

He was runner-up for the Buck Buchanan Award, presented annually to the top defensive player in I-AA football.

Entering the 2013 training camp Hawkins was still recovering from some scar tissue which had developed in his left shoulder following surgery.