Hawkins Just Plays the Position Regardless of Coaching Decision : Football: Although he became a standout tailback during his senior season at Banning, he is back at his old position--defensive back--for Shrine game.

When Banning High’s Shayzar Hawkins takes the field Saturday at Long Beach Veterans Stadium for the 41st annual Shrine All-Star football game, he’ll be back at a familiar position--defensive back.

It’s the position that Hawkins has played almost exclusively since Pop Warner football. His ability in the secondary has not gone unnoticed in practice with the South team. The game matching recent graduates from Southern California high schools against those from the northern part of the state begins at 7 p.m.

“He’s so quick,” said South defensive coordinator Sam DeRose, a coach at Atascadero High. “He’s working hard and learning fast. He’s done a good job adapting what we are teaching him. From what I’ve seen, he backpedals and goes to the ball well.”

But before he began his senior season for Banning, Hawkins was confronted with a challenge of playing a new position.

Just two weeks before the Pilots traveled to Honolulu for their season opener against Kahuku High, starting tailback Brandon Moore came down with chickenpox.

Needing to fill the spot quickly, the coaching staff called upon Hawkins.

“At first I told them I didn’t want to play running back,” Hawkins said. “I knew I could run but I didn’t have the running back know-how. Before the first game I was skeptical, but I knew I could do it.”

Hawkins managed one touchdown against Kahuku, but the coaching staff could see his potential.

“He opened up our eyes (against Kahuku),” Banning running back coach Ed Barreras said. “He had a couple of long runs. He wasn’t cutting well, because I think it was the artificial turf. But as the season went on he just improved every game.”

Hawkins’ improvement showed in the second game of the season against Long Beach Poly. The 6-foot, 175-pounder ran through the Jackrabbits’ defense for 117 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Pilots to a 34-6 victory.

From there, it just kept getting better.

Hawkins finished the season by breaking Banning’s single-season rushing record, set by Stanley Wilson in 1977, with an area-leading 1,798 yards on 222 carries in 13 games. Wilson, a two-time City Section Player of the Year and former running back for the Cincinnati Bengals, rushed for 1,761 yards.

Hawkins also led the area with 27 touchdowns, 25 coming on the ground. The banner season resulted in Hawkins being named City 4-A Division Co-Player of the Year.

“I was totally surprised at the kind of year he had,” said former Banning coach Joe Dominguez, who resigned at the end of the 1991 season. “If you were to tell me he was going to do that well at this time last year, I wouldn’t believe you.”

Barreras said there were tentative plans before the season to use Hawkins in the Pilots’ backfield.

“We were going to use Shayzar at running back, but he wasn’t going to start,” Barreras said. “We knew he had the ability to be a running back. He just had to learn. We also didn’t want to wear him out because we knew he had to play defense for us.”

But defense may be a thing of the past.

So impressed was Oregon State with Hawkins’ running ability that the Beavers recruited him as a running back. Hawkins learned three weeks ago that he had scored higher than an NCAA-required 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

But Hawkins is heading to Oregon State on his own, without a scholarship. He must sit out his first season and loses a year of eligibility because he is classified as a “non-qualifier” by the NCAA. He does not have a required 2.0 grade-point average.

Hawkins must pass 36 quarterly units in his first year with a 2.0 GPA or better to be eligible to play in 1993.

“I wanted to play on a Pacific-10 team,” Hawkins said. “I took the SAT late, in June, so I had to just wait. But now I’m looking forward to going to Oregon State.”

On defense, Hawkins, who was named to The Times’ South Bay All-Star team, is regarded as a hard hitter who possesses the speed to cover wide receivers and running backs. According to Barreras, that gave Hawkins the ability to become a running back.

“We knew he could hit hard and definitely run,” Barreras said. “So with those combinations, we thought he’d be the ideal running back. Just from seeing him run in the game at Hawaii, we knew he’d be good.”

Hawkins, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds and was the area’s scoring leader with 162 points, was equally impressive during the postseason. In the 4-A playoffs, he rushed for 684 yards and 12 touchdowns in four games, including 240 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries in a 34-14 quarterfinal victory over rival Carson.

Banning advanced to the City final but lost a closely contested game to Dorsey, 33-30, at El Camino College.

“We controlled most of the game, but we made too many mistakes,” said Hawkins, whose team finished 12-2. “We could have come into the game better prepared mentally. (Dorsey’s) a great team, but we just made mistakes that cost us.”

Dominguez says Hawkins battles every game, up until the final seconds, and never shows signs of letting up.

“He’s not only a fine athlete, but a super competitor,” Dominguez said. “He’s like a boxer. You’re going to have to knock him out of the ring or else he’s going to come back.

“I remember when we played Crenshaw at Banning last season. It was hot and dusty. I decided I would take Shayzar out for a couple plays to give him a rest. He said he didn’t want to come out. From that game on, I had so much respect for him. He just wouldn’t come out.”

After Saturday’s Shrine game, Hawkins will have some time off to get ready before classes start at Oregon State in late August.

“I’ll be a little nervous being away from home for the first time, but I can’t wait to get on the field and start playing,” Hawkins said. “Being on my own, I’ll have to adjust.”

Just as he did last season.