JJ Hawkins is a defensive lineman at Southern Miss who has not played in Southern Miss's 8 games this season; the last season with a stat line was 2025.
Southern Miss lists 32 defensive linemen this season.
Southern Miss is 3-5. Next: vs James Madison, Thu Nov 5.
Hawkins disrupts the pocket from the interior. The four seasons span four programs and three head coaches: Lane Kiffin, Deion Sanders and Charles Huff. On tape: 6 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss against Mississippi State, Week 1, 2025.
Play style
Disruptive interior rusher who lives in the backfield.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
21 tackles. 0 passes defended. 1 interception. 5.5 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
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| Season | Team | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Southern Miss | 21 | 8 | 5.5 | 3.0 | -- | 1 |
| 2024 | Marshall | 22 | 4 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 3 | -- |
| 2023 | Colorado | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -- | -- |
| 2022 | Ole Miss | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | -- | -- |
| Career | 49 | 16 | 8.5 | 5.0 | 3 | 1 |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 10 games
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| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | L 17-34vs Mississippi State | 6 | 2 | 1.5 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 38-20vs Jackson State | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 38-22vs App State | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 20-30@ Louisiana Tech | 3 | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 5 | W 42-25vs Jacksonville State | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 7 | W 38-35@ Georgia Southern | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 49-21vs UL Monroe | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 27-21@ Arkansas State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 35-42@ South Alabama | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
 Bowl | L 16-27vs Western Kentucky | — | — | — | — | 1 | — | |
| Total | 21 | 8 | 5.5 | 3.0 | 1 | 0 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
TFL rate
26%6 TFLSack rate
14%3 sacksHurry rate
29%6 hurries21 tackles · 5.5 for loss · 3 sacks · 1 interception.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 10 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Road4g | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-77g | 2.6 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+3g | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Charles Huff
Pass share
49.9%
454 pass / 456 run
Plays / game
70.0
13 games
Team sack rate
4.5%
445 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced.
Player standing · 2025
Fewer tackles a game than most FBS defensive linemen who play every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Three-star recruit. Now #185 at the position.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
Coaching lineage · 2022–2026
4 coachesPlayed for 4 head coaches at 4 schools: Lane Kiffin, Deion Sanders, Charles Huff and Blake Anderson.
In the portal · 2026
In transfer portal
