Three years ago before the school year started, Lake principal Victor Gilstrap called football coach Tate Hanna and told him he thought he needed to come to the office that he “had someone he needed to see.”
Hanna hurried to the office, and that was when he met Kalvin Dinkins, who was already 6-foot-2 and almost 300 pounds.
Dinkins told Hanna that he wanted to play basketball. But Hanna convinced Dinkins that he might want to consider football.
That turned out to be a good decision. Dinkins capped off a whirlwind two weeks of recruiting as the senior defensive lineman signed with Mississippi State on Wednesday morning at a ceremony at the school’s gymnasium.
Dinkins picked Mississippi State over Baylor, Florida, Air Force and Louisiana-Lafayette.
Dinkins went to a summer camp at MSU this summer and made his official visit this past weekend.
“It’s an SEC school in the state and everybody around here loves State,” Dinkins said. “It’s real comfortable and close to home, and it won’t be too hard to get back and forth to games. It’s big-time ball. This has been a dream of mine, a dream I thought I would never make it to. It’s a blessing. I love Coach (Mike) Leach and how laid back he is and how the staff just builds around him. It’s going to be great.”
Hanna had nothing but praise for his defensive tackle, whom many around the state in the recruiting circles are calling a “signing day steal.”
“They are getting a great guy. He is an outstanding kid and has outstanding grades. He’s accountable in everything he does and very dependable. That’s what I told every one of these coaches recruiting him. You don’t have to worry about anything with him. He’s going to be where he supposed to be when he’s supposed to be there. He has done that for us the last three years.”
Dinkins came to Lake from Raleigh where he played junior high football on the offensive side of the ball. It wasn’t until he got to Lake that he started to play defense. He was eventually a Class 2A All-State defensive tackle for the Hornets.
Dinkins is rated as a three-star prospect as the nation’s No. 98 defensive lineman and the state’s No. 18 ranked prospect by 247Sports.
“It was a blessing that he moved in three years ago,” Hanna said. “I think he flourished one he got here. We talked him into coming out and playing football. When he first came, he thought he was a basketball player. I went up and there and told him it wasn’t many kids his size playing basketball and talked him into playing football. After that, he just did a great job.”
Dinkins committed to Southern Miss this summer but decommitted after a visit to Baylor. The offers started to pick up when MSU offered Dinkins, and Florida and new coach Billy Napier came in hard. Dinkins even drew strong interest from Alabama.
“I have been doing this for 22 years and he’s the most impressive kid that we have had,” Hanna said. “To have a kid like him and to be doing it as long as we have, his potential is through the roof. One thing all the coaches talked about is he will come in and be as strong as some of the juniors that are already there. He won’t be lifting with freshmen. That’s a big plus for him. He’s going to come in and have the strength and knowledge. As smart as he is, he will have the knowledge.”
Hanna said he’s glad to get the recruiting process over with but is thankful for the experience.
“Any time you have folks coming, it means a lot,” Hanna said. “These last couple of weeks, we have had folks coming in every day. We have had whole coaching staffs come by and watch weight lifting and then go to his house. I think it huge for the program and great for the kids to see this. It’s good for these kids to see somebody make it out and get to do what they want to do.”
