Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables is going all in when it comes one freshman star
When the Oklahoma Sooners made the change they did, not many expected this to happen. The quarterback change that was heard around college football — Jackson Arnold was pulled out against the Tennessee Volunteers, and true freshman Michael Hawkins was thrown into the fire, and man, did he prevail.And, he has prevailed in the last […]
When the Oklahoma Sooners made the change they did, not many expected this to happen. The quarterback change that was heard around college football — Jackson Arnold was pulled out against the Tennessee Volunteers, and true freshman Michael Hawkins was thrown into the fire, and man, did he prevail.
And, he has prevailed in the last two games. His first against Tennessee was in an unfortunate circumstance, he didn't win, but he put on a show and delivered some spark when the offense needed it most. But against the Tigers, he showed out. When you look at the box score, he didn't do anything crazy.
But, the eye test tells the whole story. Hawkins looked poised. He looked like he had already played a road game in one of the toughest places to play in America in his first-ever SEC start. He looked like he had been there before.
He's always had that, so much so, that Venables is all in on Hawkins as a leader, even going into a week as crazy as this one against the Texas Longhorns.
"Mike is a very process-driven guy. I think he will do a good job," head coach Brent Venables said on Tuesday. "I have trust and belief in what I have seen. He's a playmaker, so you don't want to handcuff him either. I have faith, he's a guy that – easy guy to bet on from a maturity, process driven, consistency standpoint, he has a lot of good qualities that young players don't usually have."
It would be easy to look at Hawkins Jr. and forget that he's a true freshman. But, he comes from a football family, where his dad played at Oklahoma. He knows the process, he knows what it takes, and he loves the work it takes to be good. He's willing to do whatever it takes, and in one week he has shown that he's able to be very prepared.
He's about to play easily the biggest game of his career, and it's not even close. Yet, Venables seems to be worried about other things rather than his true freshman quarterback. If he's not very worried about the preparation of Hawkins Jr., the fan base shouldn't be. It feels like this kid is the real deal.
