Spending his early years in tropical but poverty-stricken Jamaica, Laken Tomlinson’s odds of playing Division I football seemed slim.
A move to Chicago with his mother at age 10 changed things, as did the uncle who introduced him to American football after Tomlinson had played cricket and soccer in Jamaica.
After growing to 6-3, 300 pounds while starring in football and wrestling at Chicago’s Lane Technical High School, Tomlinson received scholarship offers from a number of Big Ten schools, including Ohio State, Northwestern and Illinois.
Yet he chose Duke, which fit his solid academic background as well as his football ambitions.
“Duke is a prestigious school,” Tomlinson said. “Football is important to me. Duke is Division I football and I knew I would be playing for a Division I football team.”
After redshirting in 2010, Tomlinson moved into the Blue Devils’ starting lineup and played so well he looks like a fixture at left guard for the next few years.
Tomlinson started 12 games in 2011, earning first-team Freshman All-American honors from The Sporting News.
“Laken is a unique individual and a very talented kid,” said Matt Luke, Duke’s offensive line coach last season who is now coaching at Mississippi. “He has NFL-type potential with his size, athleticism and intelligence.”
Duke coach David Cutcliffe was impressed with how much Tomlinson was able to handle from the first time he became a starter last September.
“It’s really difficult to teach,” Cutcliffe said. “I’ve been really proud of Laken Tomlinson. First time out, he goes out there and plays 70-something snaps really hard. That’s usually something a guy has to learn over a period of time.”
Now, like all of Duke’s players, Tomlinson wants to help the program experience winning. Duke hasn’t been to a bowl game or had a winning record since the 1994 season. But after that, Tomlinson has the size, speed and athleticism to play in the NFL when his Duke days are done.
He’s also studying psychology and could wind up in medical school one day.
He’s come a long way from the sugar cane fields of his youth in Jamaica.
“I like how much it makes you think,” he said of psychology. “I think of myself as an intellectual person. It really intrigued me.”