Earl Garcia has completed 22 seasons as head coach of Hillsborough High School’s (Tampa, FL) varsity football squad, 29 total seasons as a head coach and 42 seasons as a coach in some capacity. In that span, Garcia says he has never had a quarterback like Dwayne Lawson, who is set to graduate from Hillsborough next month and plans to enroll at Virginia Tech in July.

“I noticed him when he was in the 7th grade, playing flag football in our stadium. He attended middle school right across the street. I was impressed that he was so athletic. When he got to the 9th grade, he played JV that one year and then played on the varsity level the next three years. On JV he was a one-man show. We won all of our JV games that year. The thing about Dwayne is he is tall. He is almost 6’6” now. He wasn’t that size as a freshman, but he was still tall for his age. He is deceptively fast because of his long strides. I have never seen him caught from behind,” Garcia said.

“I’ve been in coaching 42 years. I’ve had 12 NFL players come through, so I have been around talent. Dwayne is by far the best QB I’ve ever coached.”

In what is a unique situation, Lawson will reunite with former Hillsborough offensive coordinater Max Warner when he arrives at Virginia Tech. Warner, who coached at Hillsborough from 2011-2014 and served as offensive coordinator the latter three seasons, is now Virginia Tech’s Quality Control Coordinator for Offense.

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