When the Sooners take the field this Saturday against Auburn, they'll do it behind a true freshman quarterback, as former four-star signee Michael Hawkins is set to become just the second true freshman to start under center for Oklahoma in the 21st century.
Some guy named Caleb Williams was the first. You get the picture; it's pretty exclusive company. And it defies the norm at a program with such a sterling reputation of offensive excellence. Generally, Oklahoma quarterbacks have had to bide their time in the system for at least a year before being handed the keys.
But given Hawkins' journey to this point, he's no doubt less surprised with this seemingly ahead-of-schedule outcome than anyone, even those closest to him. Becoming the starting quarterback at the University of Oklahoma has been his singular goal for quite some time.
It all began with his father, Mike, who burst onto the scene as a freshman defensive back at Oklahoma in 2002. The elder Hawkins' career in the crimson and cream was short-lived, however, as he left the program after just one season to embark on a professional career. He eventually became a fifth-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in 2005 and spent several years in the NFL, where a young Michael grew his football roots hanging out in the locker room with the likes of Jason Witten, Martellus Bennett and others.
Michael is the eldest of three children, and his younger brother Maliek is currently committed to Oklahoma as a four-star defensive back. But unlike his father and brother, Michael developed a proclivity for a different position. Mike let his oldest boy play quarterback as a sort of cross-training measure toward an eventual career at corner. But Michael fell in love with the craft of playing QB, and he never ended up switching to the defensive side of the ball.
When he enrolled at Allen (Texas) High School in 2020, Hawkins had to wait a year for his chance to be the powerhouse program's starting quarterback. Another future Sooner, the illustrious General Booty, was finishing up a decorated prep career at the time. But come 2021, Hawkins won the starting job for the Eagles as a sophomore. Longtime FBS assistant and offensive guru Chad Morris was Allen's head coach at the time, and he saw immense potential in Hawkins' game.
Hawkins enjoyed a breakout season as a sophomore, leading Allen to a deep playoff run and an 11-3 overall record. His only offer prior to the conclusion of his sophomore campaign was an offer from North Carolina State, as then-offensive coordinator Tim Beck was a longtime friend of the family and got an early glimpse at the youngster's talent. But after that sophomore campaign, the offers began to roll. Michigan, Arkansas and Alabama, among others, extended scholarship opportunities. But the offer Michael coveted was Oklahoma.
At the time, Brent Venables and his staff were still new on the scene, and Lincoln Riley had never built a relationship with Michael during his time at Oklahoma. The only 2024 quarterback that Riley had seriously entertained on OU's behalf was eventual Nebraska signee Dylan Raiola. The Sooners invited Michael up to campus in late July of 2022, and promised him the chance to show off his ability and potentially earn a scholarship offer. Jeff Lebby, who was Oklahoma's offensive coordinator at the time, was a member of the Sooners' 2002 recruiting class like Mike. But even so, the elder Hawkins told his son he didn't have to bother taking the visit to Oklahoma. After all, he had plenty of other Power 4 offers. He didn't have to feel the need to follow in his dad's footsteps at OU.
But Michael insisted that he would go and show the Oklahoma staff he was worthy of the offer. And that's precisely what he did.
“I mean, [when] Mike got to OU, he didn’t really want to take no pictures. He didn’t want to do all the stuff that people do on the visit. He just wanted to go throw," Mike Sr. told OUInsider in a previous interview about the first visit. “He put that baseball cap on, and he did not miss. It was probably the greatest workout I’ve ever seen him do. I remember just looking at Lebby; I’m looking at his reaction. And then Mike throws this out-and-up seam ball, like sixty-five yards in the air. And it just falls over the shoulder of the receiver."
From that moment on, the Sooners had a new top target at quarterback in the class of 2024. To that point in time, Lebby had been engaged in a hot pursuit of DJ Lagway. But he offered Hawkins immediately following that workout, and began to push hard for him to join Oklahoma's 2024 class.
Even so, Lebby's own brother-in-law, Kendal Briles, made it difficult for Oklahoma to lock up Hawkins' pledge expediently. Briles, then the offensive coordinator at Arkansas, had a chronological advantage in the relationship game. He'd offered Hawkins a month before OU did. OU and Arkansas very quickly emerged as the two serious contenders, as Lebby and Briles ran virtually identical offenses and made Hawkins feel like a priority. The recruitment dragged into calendar year 2023, at which point Hawkins had turned in an impressive junior season at Allen and cemented his stock as a blue-chipper. Briles left Arkansas for TCU in January 2023, which threw a bit of a twist into Hawkins' recruitment. He visited both OU and TCU multiple times in the early spring, but when it came time to make a decision in April, his heart pulled him to Norman. At Hawkins' commitment ceremony, there was only one hat on the table: a white cap emblazoned with the crimson OU logo.
At the time of Hawkins' commitment, Jackson Arnold was the ballyhooed five-star freshman lighting it up at spring camp for Oklahoma, and many understandably questioned why Hawkins would choose to commit to a school where he might not see the field for at least two years. In an era where blue-chip quarterbacks will transfer willy-nilly if they don't see the field immediately, a large contingent of the fanbase dismissed Hawkins as little more than a "bridge" quarterback — a quarterback that a school takes in order to have another warm body on the depth chart.
But Michael never took any of that for granted. And today, one remark that his father made on the day of his son's commitment rings as true as ever.
"One thing I love about BV is, it don’t matter what you did in high school," Mike told OUInsider last April. "Once you get on campus, you gotta earn it. And I’m all about that for [Michael]."
Prior to his senior year, Hawkins transferred to upstart Frisco Emerson High School, where he turned in a 2023 campaign that put the nation on notice. As the Mavericks' starting quarterback, he accounted for 55 total touchdowns to just four turnovers. He often didn't play in the second half of games, as most of Emerson's contests were well in hand by the intermission. He led Emerson, a program in its third year of existence, to the doorstep of a berth in Texas' 5A state championship game; the Mavs ultimately fell in the state semifinal.
But his recruitment took another massive turn in late November, amidst Emerson's memorable playoff run. Lebby departed Oklahoma to become the head coach at Mississippi State, and Seth Littrell inherited Lebby's vacated role as the principal play-caller and quarterbacks coach. Immediately upon his promotion, Littrell and multiple other OU assistants went to see Hawkins in person to re-affirm the Sooners' desire to welcome him to the fold. And despite the sudden absence of the coach to whom he committed, Hawkins never blinked. He honored his pledge to the Sooners and signed his letter of intent in December, joining a top-10 recruiting class that he had helped to build. Hawkins was instrumental in the Sooners' successful pursuit of such prospects as four-star WR Zion Ragins, four-star OL Eddy Pierre-Louis and four-star TE Davon Mitchell.
And upon his arrival at Oklahoma, it soon became apparent to most everyone in the program that Hawkins was no project. He was ready to contribute and lead immediately, provided the need for his contribution and leadership arose. He's trained for years under the tutelage of Kevin Murray, father of Kyler. That, combined with the gift of a father who can lend a defensive back's perspective, has enabled Hawkins to develop well ahead of the curve.
In tandem, Kevin and Mike have helped refine Michael's game, all the way down to the smallest details. He's been trained not to pat the ball before throwing, as patting the ball enables a defensive back to pick up on the timing of a throw more easily. He's been trained not to anchor his fingers on the laces of the football. That enables him to unload a pass in a hurry, regardless of whether he receives the snap cleanly. He's been trained to trust his instinct and his athletic ability.
But one of the things that's always been innate for Hawkins is his competitive drive. He grew up working out alongside numerous high-level football players; Mike has several longtime training pupils that enjoyed successful collegiate careers, and a few that are still in the NFL. And even as a young child, Michael loved nothing more than participating in those sessions.
"If [Michael] did something, or he wasn’t acting right, then I would punish him by not letting him come to the workout," Mike told OUInsider last year. "So he would be sitting up on the second floor of the house in the window crying. He just loved it. He loved the process. I never had to tell [him], ‘Hey, you gotta go work out.’ If he seen me putting on shorts or he seen me putting on workout clothes, he’d go put his stuff on, get his backpack and meet me at the door. That’s just been his work ethic from day one."
That work ethic, combined with his God-given athleticism and carefully cultivated football instincts, enabled Hawkins to break camp in August as the primary backup to Jackson Arnold. To earn that role, he had to beat out seventh-year senior Casey Thompson, who's only two years removed from leading the Big 12 in touchdown passes as the starter at Texas. And when Arnold's early-season struggles culminated in three ghastly first-half turnovers against Tennessee, Brent Venables made the call to the bullpen.
Hawkins had gotten a few first-team reps in fall camp, but now he was being summoned — 18 years old, cold off the bench — into the hornet's nest of SEC play. And he wasn't perfect on Saturday night; for instance, a sailed fourth-and-14 throw to Jaquaize Pettaway might have moved the chains and sparked more life into an Oklahoma comeback. But all in all, the body of work left little doubt that he's ready for the big time. He made quick reads, confidently rifled several throws into tight windows and flashed the dynamic mobility that adds a dangerous dimension to his game. At night's end, Hawkins had completed 11 of 18 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown, adding 12 carries for 22 yards against a stout Tennessee front.
“I felt pretty comfortable," he remarked after the game. "Just getting those drives going, and then finally getting points on the board and just capitalizing on all of it. Felt pretty comfortable.”
Brent Venables made the announcement Monday night that Hawkins would start against Auburn, and now Oklahoma fans will get to see 60 full minutes of the talent that had many program sources whispering as early as April that Hawkins' rise to stardom might not take long at all.
"I love Mike," remarked Venables after Hawkins' cameo Saturday. "He's confident; he’s loose in the right ways. The moment’s not going to overwhelm him, even though, again, he's a young guy. Things happen fast. Mike gets pretty excited; you saw him. He's three or four steps ahead of the play a few times. That's going to happen too. Certainly got to slow things down and let things develop; there’s that piece of it, but he’s a great competitor. Got a tremendous amount of talent, and he cares. There's a lot that you really have an appreciation for Mike about."
The Sooners are 3-1 heading into their first road tilt of the season, and boast a defense that looks as strong as any such unit the program has fielded in well over a decade. Can Hawkins inject some life into an offense that ranks among the nation's most ineffective?
He knows the standard, and he's not going to back down from the challenge at hand. This stage and this opportunity is years in the making for Hawkins. He's got a statement to make, and it begins on the Plains this Saturday.
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