When he walked in the doors at Hamilton Christian School as a freshman, Devwin Rankins Jr. hadn’t played football and didn’t have much interest in the game.

But head coach Dexter Washington said he had a feeling that would change.

“He showed up at Hamilton in ninth grade, and he mentioned something about the band,” Washington said. “He was 320 pounds.

“And I was like ‘We will start a band for you’ because I knew eventually we could find a way to get him on the football field. We needed to figure out how.

“His father (former Washington-Marion defensive lineman Devwin Rankins Sr.) was a football player and he loved football. (He has) a really good family. (Rankins Sr.) wasn’t going to push him, but I knew underneath he really wanted him to play football and he was going to support him.”

A former Warriors defensive lineman, who went on to play for Northwestern State, played a big role in getting Rankins on the field.

“I had a coach named Isaiah Wheeler that was coaching with me at the time,” Washington said. “Isaiah Wheeler took him under his wing in ninth grade.

“He didn’t play football, and he just worked him a whole year, had him come to practice. The kid is remarkable, a 4.0 student. He is just an exceptional kid. And he started liking football.

“The following year, he didn’t play much, but we played him, and I saw something change when he began to start liking football.”

Rankins turned into an all-district lineman last year, earning first team as a defensive lineman and second team as an offensive lineman.

“He was a nose guard, defensive tackle and offensive guard and nobody could block him,” Washington said. “He just made play after play. He is very smart, so he knows all the blocking assignments.”

And he has been doing even more to make his senior year his best, dropping 25 pounds, cutting down to 296 on his 5-foot-10 frame.

“I hope that we can have a good season and go far in the playoffs,” Rankins said. “I have been building up stamina and trying to get stronger.

“I feel lighter. I feel like I can play more through overtime and other quarters instead of being tired going into the third or fourth.”

Washington said he saw a change in Rankins that showed his desire to win in 2022 while the Warriors were battling through an 0-10 season.

“I watched him out there, and I even watched him get frustrated during the game because he wanted to win,” Washington said. “Something happened one day at practice where he screamed and hollered at a couple of kids out there like I have never seen him do.

“I had never seen that side of him before. I told the coaches, ‘We have a football player,’ because it meant something to him.”

As his time in practice and on the field Friday night increased, Rankins hasn’t let his academic pursuits lag, maintaining a 4.17 grade point average.

“You just have to stay up late studying and find time on the holidays or whenever I get a break,” Rankins said.

Washington said even when Rankins went on a family vacation this summer, he was working out to get ready for the 2024 season.

With a leaner frame and more power, Washington said he expects teams will have a tougher time with Rankins on both sides of the ball.

“I want him to stuff both A-gaps,” Washington said. “I want him to beat the center like he has never been beaten up before.

“What I am really trying to do is to force them to use a double team. I think a lot of teams may have to. You should see him pull. If he pulls on the play and comes through the hole, and because he is quick enough, it is hard for people to just stand up and take on the block because he is going to level them.

“You are not going to run around him because, if he puts his hands on you for pass blocking, you are not moving.”

Rankins said the Warriors can improve on last year’s 4-7 record.

“I want to be better than last year and not have the season we had my sophomore year,” Rankins said. “I believe we can make a run at getting this district championship.

“We grew more as a team and built more team chemistry.”