Boulder – Freshman quarterback Cody Hawkins, the older son of Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins, will be on the Buffs’ roster this year, but he will not immediately compete for the starting job. Instead, the plan is for Cody to redshirt, the elder Hawkins said Thursday.
“He’s going to come in, and (I’m) 99 percent (sure) he’s going to redshirt,” Hawkins said. “He’ll run the system and run the scout team, and be ready to be some sort of a backup in his redshirt freshman year (in 2007).”
When Hawkins took over as CU’s football coach in January, Cody almost instantly became the Buffs’ highest-profile prospect. He was the Idaho high school player of the year after leading Boise’s Bishop Kelly High School with 2,783 yards and 42 touchdowns passing in his senior season. It was announced at the time that he would “grayshirt,” meaning he wouldn’t enroll until January 2007, to delay his eligibility by a year. Instead, he will be on the roster this fall.
Torn between Boise State and CU, Cody kept the suspense alive until signing day. While he might be CU’s quarterback of the future, that future isn’t in three months, the start of August preseason camp.
“For a true freshman to come in and battle for a starting quarterback job without a spring football (session) is darn near impossible,” Dan Hawkins said.
Brian White and Bernard Jackson are the front-runners for the position going into fall camp. James Cox will join the competition after missing spring drills because of a broken hand.
Wide receiver suspended
Rising junior wide receiver Alvin Barnett has been suspended for CU’s Sept. 2 season opener against Montana State, Hawkins said. Barnett was arrested by Boulder police in the early morning hours of April 20 on suspicion of drunken driving. A Breathalyzer test revealed Barnett’s blood-alcohol level was at .087, just over the legal limit.
In addition to the suspension, Barnett will be required to perform 10 hours of community service and write a research paper.
If Barnett has another alcohol- related run-in with the law, he will be kicked off the team, Hawkins said.
Barnett caught 17 passes for 131 yards last season. He ended spring football second on the depth chart at one of the wide receiver slots.
Recruiting assignments
CU’s coaching staff has been on the road of late, evaluating recruits. Hawkins has finalized each coach’s main recruiting area as follows: Southern California (Kent Riddle, Darian Hagan, Brian Cabral and Chris Strausser); Texas (Ron Collins, Mark Helfrich, Romeo Bandison and Eric Kiesau); and Florida (Greg Brown). Each coach has been assigned high schools in Colorado, and Hawkins has hands in it all.
CU on ESPN
Colorado football will be featured in a new ESPN series on “SportsCenter” starting on Monday. CU is the first team featured in the five-part series.
Kansas State and Texas also are part of the series.
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-820-5455 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
