Broomfield – It should have surprised no one when Drew Hawkins’ first real varsity play as a quarterback ended with a touchdown pass. Holy Family’s newly appointed starter grew up playing under the bright stadium lights.
“My dad has game films that show me and my brother running around throwing the football in the end zone during games,” said Hawkins, a junior. “Everyone I’ve ever hung out with has been involved with football.”
Drew’s dad is Dan Hawkins, the new coach at Colorado, and his brother Cody is a freshman quarterback redshirting for the Buffaloes. The football bloodlines run thick in the Hawkins family, which moved with the coach from Oregon (Willamette University) to Idaho (Boise State), where Drew and Cody could be seen playing in the end zone, before settling in Colorado.
Drew opted to enroll at Holy Family, the defending Class 2A state champion, over Niwot and stepped into the starting role this week after sharing time with incumbent starter Patrick Chappell in the first two Tigers victories.
It was not an easy decision to make for Holy Family coach and athletic director Jim Bratten.
“It’s been really tough. Patrick is a great kid and we haven’t forgotten him. We are blessed to have two good quarterbacks,” Bratten said. “It was more of a gut decision than anything else. We thought Drew gave us our best overall quarterback option. … He is nothing but raw potential right now.”
The quick and easy assessment for the change is that Hawkins has more size (he’s 6-feet-1 to Chappell’s 5-7), more speed (roughly a 4.8-second 40-yard dash compared to a 5.0) and a better arm. But it’s tough to step in ahead of the guy who quarterbacked his team to a state title.
“Me and Patrick are both very competitive. And coming in as the new guy, you don’t know what to expect,” Hawkins said. “Just because I’m the starter now doesn’t mean I’ll play the whole game. If I don’t play well, Coach Bratten won’t hesitate to pull me out and put Chappell in. Besides, neither of us really cares who starts as long as we win.”
While football may envelop the Hawkins family, it doesn’t control it.
“I pretty much try to be his dad and not his coach. If he has questions for me he can always ask and I’ll be a sounding board for him,” said Dan Hawkins, who found time to watch Drew’s first two games at Holy Family.
“Life goes by too fast to not do everything I can to be at their games,” he said.
Drew gave his dad and everyone else a good show after his first varsity snap as a quarterback. (“Other than taking some victory snaps and kneeling down in the fourth quarter, that was my first actual playing time,” Drew said.)
When Hawkins took that first snap in the second quarter of the season opener against La Junta, he hooked up with his neighbor, Matt Melcher, for a 30-yard score.
“That’s my boy,” Hawkins said of Melcher. “When (Bratten) put me in we were already ahead, so I thought we would run the ball. When he called a pass play I was like, ‘Aw, this is going to be sweet.”‘
Hawkins’ first pass of the second game was not as sweet. It was an interception. In two games, Hawkins is 12-for-21 with 211 yards and two touchdowns.
The Tigers have a bye this week, but it will be interesting to see if Hawkins can keep the winning streak going – not only Holy Family’s streak (six games and counting), but the Hawkins’ streak, as well.
Cody Hawkins has not lost a football game since the fifth grade, but it was the back-to-back undefeated, state championship seasons at Bishop Kelly in Boise, Idaho, that really impress.
Will Drew Hawkins be able to follow in his big brother’s footsteps?
“We’ll see. I’m trying to get my mojo working,” Drew said.
