Building a powerhouse in L.A.

Building a high school football program from scratch isn't easy. If the program is located in Los Angeles -- where some of the country's top football is played -- the hill to climb is even steeper.

In the case of Los Angeles Augustus Hawkins -- a school in its third year of existence and second as a football program -- its transition into a varsity football program has been made a little smoother with the help of coach Mil'Von James and three D-I prospects from the area -- Greg Johnson, Joseph Lewis and Jalen Hall.

All three participated in and made their presence felt at the Rivals Camp Series Las Vegas event, with Johnson being named among the Top Offensive Performers. Hall and Lewis earned Top Underclassmen Performers honors.

James, who played college football at UCLA and UNLV in the mid-2000s, grew up a block away from where Hawkins now resides, and his presence over the years was the difference in keeping his top prospects at the school instead of maybe transferring to a more prominent program in the area.

"This is my neighborhood," said James, who took over as head coach the third game of Hawkins' inaugural season in 2013. "I've been here my entire life, and the kids trust me and they trust our staff and this program. They see me as someone who played in college and had a brief stint in the NFL (a training camp invite from the Cleveland Browns)."

James was involved with the players who now make up Hawkins' varsity team long before they reached high school. For James, the sales pitch to keep Johnson, Lewis, Hall and others was simple.

"I said, 'You can go to some of these big names or private schools synonymous with winning,'" James said. "You can be a small fish in a big program. Or you can build something special right here in your own neighborhood. The kids know me and understand the program already, so it was easy to keep them. They wanted to be a part of something new and bring the community together, so it was an easy sell."

Hawkins competes in the Exposition League and went 3-8 its first year before improving to 6-7 in 2014, advancing to the CIF Los Angeles City sectionals.

Johnson, James and Lewis have built a solid foundation.

"When Hawkins started out it was a difficult that first year," James said. "Our first priority was to develop the young talent with Johnson and Lewis. We saw early on they had the talent to be dominant."

Johnson and James are class of 2017 players who started out on the JV squad the 2013 season. However, three games into Hawkins' varsity season, it was decided James was the best fit for the program's young nucleus moving forward and James was promoted from JV coach to head coach of the varsity team.

James then moved Johnson and Lewis to the varsity team and didn't see a drop-off in their production.

"They were elite right away," James said. "Nothing changed when we moved them to varsity. What you see now is what they were doing then. Everything took off for those guys and they are the face of our program."

Johnson is a running back who stands at 5-feet-11, 185 pounds. And that's after James and the Hawkins staff set forth a goal for Johnson that he lose 15 pounds before the start of his freshman season.

"It wasn't that he was fat," James said of Johnson. "We just wanted to see what he could do as a toned-down version of himself. He took on the regimen we gave him as an eighth grader. We are like a college program in that we do 6 a.m. workouts and we guide the nutrition. When he came here we was doing push-ups. Now he lifts weights and is a stickler when it comes to what he eats.

"His meals aren't fast food anymore, and his snacks aren't cupcakes."

Lewis is a 6-foot-3, 196-pound receiver who didn't play football before high school. He was friends with Johnson since elementary school and wanted to play the same sport as his friend.

"We taught him football through rebounding in basketball," James said. "We instantly saw he had athleticism that most kids don't. We knew he could be really good and he fell in love with football immediately. His first game, he caught a 70-yard touchdown and told me this sport was everything he imagined."

Hall, a class of 2018 receiver, joined the program a year later than Lewis and Johnson. He stands at 6-foot-4, 183 pounds and complements Lewis, to say the least.

"He's a freak," James said. "I don't see too many guys walk in from middle school at his size. He was playing defensive end in middle school and that gave him a toughness that most receivers his age don't have. He absolutely loves to block. Look at his highlight film -- there's at least 10 clips of him just blocking. He's physically gifted too and has great hands and route-running ability. And he loves the weight room."

With potentially two D-I receivers and a D-I running back prospect, it's no longer a matter of convincing players to stick with the program instead of transferring. Hawkins is now convincing players to transfer into the program.

Class of 2017 dual-threat quarterback Dylan Lemle will start for Hawkins next season as a transfer from the nationally-renowned Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco program.

The four are already forming a chemistry, and all four have their sights set high.

"We all want to go to the same school," said Johnson, referring to himself, Lewis, Hall and Lemle. "I think we can do some good things -- maybe even go to a national championship."

Lewis and Hall also admitted to wanting to be a package deal in college, and James gives all of his players the same advice on how to handle the recruiting process.

"I tell them to go wherever they can get immediate playing time," James said. "I tell them to keep their eyes open, to trust their heart and feel everything out. The school that you loved growing up may not be the school for you. It's the school that's the best fit for you. I preach that to them and share my experiences."

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