Deion 'Tankins' builds off Jones' precedent for El Paso Ball Carriers

By Vinny Lavalsiti, UTEP Athletics

El Pasoans have a soft spot for their hometown running backs.

UTEP football’s all-time leading rusher and current Green Bay Packer Aaron Jones is the one who first comes to mind.

As a senior, No. 29 compiled 1,773 rushing yards and found the endzone 17 times to put the finishing touches on an all-time career for a Miner football player – part of which UTEP’s current feature back Deion Hankins got to witness.

“My memories were that this guy can move,” said the redshirt freshman. “All (Jones) needs is one block and he’s out the door.”

Just like Jones, El Paso manufactured Hankins into the bruising running back he is today. Hankins lined up in seven-onseven’s playing tackle football during his youth on the hot Sun City asphalt in the cul-de-sacs of El Paso’s upper east side.

“We would tackle in the streets so that would just make me a tougher guy,” Hankins said. “It’s just natural for me – off instinct.” While Jones was in his redshirt junior season in 2016, Hankins logged a season-best 2,812 yards his sophomore year at Parkland High School – a few miles north of Jones’ alma mater in William H. Burges High School.

Jones was pick 182 in the NFL Draft’s fifth round that summer, and Hankins was in the heat of his recruiting process.

Admittedly, Jones played a role in Hankins’ decision to stay home.

“(Jones) means a lot to me,” Hankins said. “He was always there for me to give me pointers and tips. So now that I’m finally here where he played at – if he can do it, I feel like if I work hard and have the same work ethic as him (I can too). He’s just a great role model.”

Hankins is joined by two other El Paso-born running backs: senior Joshua Fields and redshirt junior Reynaldo Flores. UTEP running backs coach Barrick Nealy said Jones has served as a blueprint for the future success of El Pasoproduct running backs who choose to sign locally.

“I’m telling my guys all the time, ‘You’re standing on the shoulders of a giant,’” Nealy said. “’Everything that he went through, he did for you guys. It’s up to you to take that baton and run with it because the opportunity is there.’”

Hankins – ranked 10th in the country in rushing – leads a running back group that is top-15 nationally with 503 rushing yards. According to Nealy, there is a pride and tradition in the running back room – stemming from the foundation Jones laid from 20132016 – being built for the next group of El Paso backs who join the Miner backfield.

“You need to be grateful (for Jones),” Nealy said. “But you also need to grab hold of that baton and you need to run with it and pave the way for the next guy. Why can’t this be Running Back U?”

Hankins’ physical play after three games is making a name for himself, and quite literally; the UTEP football Twitter community has taken turns producing nicknames each week. The man, himself, prefers “Deion Tankins.”

“I kind of like ‘Deion Tankins’ because ‘tank’ is like the beginning of my last name,” Hankins said.

Nealy – who arrived to UTEP at the same time as Hankins in 2019 – found “Earl Campbell, Jr.” as a suitable nickname for similar reasons, citing Hankins’ resemblance to the Texan Hall of himself in the wrong place, at the bouncing afro and cheek-to-cheek Famer’s running style.

Hankins was a little sheepish to Nealy’s compliment.

“I was like ‘Hold up,’” Hankins said. “(Nealy) told me I was Earl Campbell, Jr. So, I looked up his highlights and was like ‘Oh snap, I don’t look like that.’”

However, Nealy’s comparison has rang true in two of UTEP’s three wins on the early season. Against Stephen F. Austin on Sept. 5, Hankins powered the Miner offense, averaging 6.6 yards per carry for a then-career high of 113 yards and two touchdowns.

His first touchdown of the night was a ten-yard rush which saw Hankins’ first trucking victim of the season: 225-pound Lumberjack linebacker Day Day Coleman.

Hankins plowed through two more would-be tacklers on the next offensive series. After getting barreled over, all SFA corner back Jeremiah Walker could do was latch on to Hankins’ ankles. Walker was consequentially dragged for another five yards.

Three weeks later, in UTEP’s 31-6 rout at Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 26, Hankins surpassed his personal bests for 118 yards and three touchdowns, with all of the scores coming in the first 20 minutes of the game. He set up his second touchdown of the game by bouncing off Warhawk safety Austin Hawley and running down field for an additional 33 yards.

Hankins put the game out of reach with his third touchdown – the most by a UTEP freshman ball carrier since John Harvey in 1985 – an eight-yard push through the ULM defense. Hawley found himself in the wrong place, at the wrong time again.

Ironically, Hankins was named the honorable mention Earl Campbell Player of the Week on Tuesday 30 minutes before he gave the humble response.

Hankins is the first freshman to notch two 100-yard rushing performances since Jones did so in 2013. And if the first four games are any indication of what’s to come this season, Hankins might be the first UTEP freshman to hit the century mark four times since Jones accomplished that feat too.

“This is only the beginning for (Hankins),” Nealy said. “I think everything that (Jones) was able to accomplish, Deion is right on track. … I think Deion is trying to follow in the footsteps of Aaron, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Another parallel between the two El Paso backs are their personalities. Hankins, with his bouncing afro and cheek-to-cheek grin, possesses a happy-go-lucky charisma that rubs off on his teammates, coaches and maybe even his tacklers.

“For as talented (Hankins) is, he’s an even better person,” Nealy said. “He’s a rare individual that I was lucky to come across.” Deion Hankins will run a defender over, smile and then say a prayer for them while they are getting peeled off the turf. But it’s all in good jest, though, because infectious grins and tough running are in the bible-toting running back’s blood. “If I need to hit you, I’ll hit you,” said a giggling Hankins. “I’m a power back.” Deion ‘Tankins’: an anchor in the UTEP rushing attack and the El Paso Strong Community’s new feature back.