Ben Hawkins enters his first season with the Minnesota Vikings in 2025 as the team's head performance dietitian after spending the 2023 and 2024 seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers as the club's assistant team dietitian. In his role, Hawkins oversees the Vikings nutrition and dietitian-related services, including helping to develop player-specific nutrition, performance and recovery plans.
Hawkins, who originally joined the Chargers as a sports nutrition fellow in June of 2022, was elevated to assistant team dietitian in June of 2023. In his role, Hawkins coordinated and executed nutrition operations for both the team and staff, managing day-to-day nutrition logistics, including menu development and meal planning. He also implemented nutrition injury recovery protocols and developed educational resources for the players.
Prior to entering the NFL, Hawkins served as a dietetic intern with Duke University Sports Nutrition during the 2021 football season. In addition to working with the football team during both practices and games, Hawkins helped promote optimal fueling across Blue Devil Athletics.
A graduate of Purdue University, Hawkins received bachelor's degrees in both nutrition and dietetics and nutrition, fitness and health. As a student, Hawkins gained hands-on experience with Purdue Sports Nutrition, primarily assisting with the operations of various student-athlete fueling stations across campus from 2019-21.
