Florida A&M’s (FAMU) Kirk Dawkins was the most effective tales in school observe this season. Now, he’s taking his abilities to a Energy 4 program. After a record-breaking run by the 2025 season, Dawkins—who proudly carried the HBCU banner into the NCAA Out of doors Championships—has entered the switch portal and dedicated to Iowa State College of the Large 12.
It’s the most recent blow in what’s changing into an all-too-familiar sample: elite HBCU observe and subject expertise leaving for Energy 4 packages. However to know why Dawkins’ departure issues, it’s a must to perceive what he meant to FAMU.
A Star is Born in Tallahassee
Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica—the place sprinting is second nature and Olympic medals are a nationwide foreign money—Dawkins grew up racing by the streets on errands for his mother and father. He honed his craft at Kingston School earlier than taking a leap to the U.S. to compete on the College at Albany. The chilly Northeast didn’t go well with him, and after one season, Dawkins transferred to Florida A&M. That’s when every part modified.
With heat on the observe and locally, Dawkins discovered his stride.
In 2025, he swept the SWAC’s indoor and outside 800-meter titles, added gold within the mile and 1500-meter, and broke by on the NCAA East Prelims with a personal-best 1:46.62 to punch his ticket to Eugene, Oregon, for the NCAA Championships.
“Saying that you simply’re going to make it to Eugene is one factor, however doing it’s the subsequent,” Dawkins instructed the Tallahassee Democrat earlier than the NCAA Out of doors Championships. “I’ve some unfinished enterprise.”
Dawkins wasn’t simply representing FAMU in Eugene—he was carrying the HBCU flag solo within the 800-meter race.
“To know I’m the one one representing FAMU and HBCUs on the nationwide meet is a really good feeling,” he mentioned. “It’s all about executing and popping out on high.”
A Observe to Greatness
Even earlier than the NCAA Championships, Dawkins had made historical past, changing into the primary Rattler since 2022 to qualify for the occasion. His coaches, Garfield Ellenwood II and Tamika Kimchen, had seen this coming.
“We set out a plan,” Dawkins instructed the Democrat. “If I obtained to a particular level, we knew this season can be the yr of glory.”
Nevertheless it’s not simply glory Kirk Dawkins is chasing. He’s eyeing a spot on Jamaica’s nationwide crew for the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. He wants a 1:44.70 to qualify—lower than two seconds off his PR.
“I imagine with the coaching I’ve been doing and the mentorship of my coaches, household, and friends, I do know I’ve an enormous probability of creating it,” Dawkins mentioned.
The HBCU Exodus Continues
Dawkins’ switch to Iowa State is the most recent in a wave of high-profile HBCU observe and subject stars departing for Energy 4 faculties this summer season. He joins names like Jamarion Stubbs, Tyson Williams, and Amarianna Lofton.
Stubbs, a dash king from Alabama State, introduced his switch to Arkansas after racking up six SWAC titles and a top-25 NCAA rating within the 100 meters. Johnson C. Smith’s Tyson Williams—a freshman phenom and DII indoor 200m champ. Dedicated to South Carolina shortly after putting third on the NCAA DII Out of doors Championships.
Then got here Central State’s Amarianna Lofton, a two-time SIAC excessive leap champion and elite multi-event performer, who introduced her transfer to Purdue. She leaves CSU with 4 convention golds and a legacy of dominance within the jumps and hurdles.
One after one other, HBCU stars are leaping from convention podiums to Energy 4 lineups. And it’s not a knock on their authentic faculties. It displays how good HBCU packages have gotten at growing elite athletes.
Is it honest to ask a student-athlete to not chase higher publicity, higher services, and potential Olympic pipelines? Or is it a gut-punch to packages like FAMU which have poured within the teaching, care, and tradition?
Dawkins and the Dilemma
However Kirk Dawkins is completely different. Whereas others left after DII championships or breakout freshman seasons, Dawkins reached the top of NCAA Division I competitors—on his personal phrases, from an HBCU, with out the hype machine of a Energy 4 behind him.
“All of the laborious work and the times of throwing up all paid off,” mentioned Garfield Ellenwood II, Director of Observe and Subject at FAMU. “To see his pleasure—that’s what it’s about… seeing them attain their targets.”
Nonetheless, the sample is obvious. HBCUs are producing world-class athletes, however conserving them is changing into the following large problem.
Whether or not it’s improved NIL offers, higher services, or Olympic improvement pipelines, Energy 4 packages have loads to supply. And whereas HBCU coaches stay happy with their athletes’ success, each departure leaves one other “what if” behind.
The Legacy He Leaves
Dawkins was set to graduate in 2026 with a level in Provide Chain Administration, and his love for FAMU runs deep. He calls it “a spot of tradition,” and credit his transformation to the mentorship and assist he acquired there.
“I’m not going to the meet like I’m from one of many smallest faculties,” he mentioned earlier than the NCAA Championships. “It’s all about executing and popping out on high.”
Whether or not he runs his subsequent race in Iowa State colours or on the world stage for Jamaica, Dawkins will at all times be part of HBCU observe and subject’s proud lineage.
However his departure—and the rising pattern it represents—raises large questions. Can HBCUs stay the launchpad for elite observe expertise and likewise the vacation spot? Or are they now destined to be a proving floor from which Energy 4 packages pluck?
For now, all we all know is that this: Kirk Dawkins is headed to Iowa State. However the legacy he leaves at FAMU—and the fireplace he sparked throughout HBCU observe—received’t fade anytime quickly.
