PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Dominique Lawson, L.D. Bell
Sport: Football
Position: Quarterback
Class: Junior
His story: Lawson will become a senior next season and look to help the Raiders football team with new head coach Mike Glaze, who comes over from Cedar Hill. Lawson began playing football when he was in the sixth grade and played every position except offensive and defensive line. He moved to the quarterback spot in the ninth grade when high school started and in his final season at Bell, he hopes to help turnaround a team that went 1-9 this past season. His confidence is high as he believes the Raiders will turn it around and he has bought into Glaze's philosophy. “I am expecting that we will make it fairly deep into the playoffs,” Lawson said. If that turns out to be true, it will mark the first time in its past 14 trips that Bell would get past the first round. Lawson is a tri-sport athlete at Bell, also playing shooting guard on the basketball team and running hurdles on the track and field squad. “It can get a bit crazy at times, but I enjoy it. It's kind of a break to start something new every season.” He says he loves football the most, but uses his skills and strengths from the other two sports when he's out on the gridiron. Off the field, Lawson is a 4.0 student and has talked to some colleges – with some others on his radar. He loves to watch Tom Brady and Russell Wilson, and hopes to play more like both of them, saying he likes Brady's cannon and Wilson's ability to make plays with his feet. For now, though, he’ll try to help his team adjust to its new coach. Lawson says it's always a slow process when a new head coach comes in, but once the “team and new coach get on the same page, it's smooth sailing.”
Fun fact: Lawson still loves to wake up Saturday mornings and watch cartoons.
He said: “Football is fun to me. There's nothing better than taking a hit and then turning around and laying a hit on someone else.”
- Brian Gosset, bgosset@star-telegram.com
This story was originally published May 22, 2015 at 4:27 PM with the headline "PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Dominique Lawson, L.D. Bell."