San Antonio – Although he doesn’t know whether it will play out that way, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins hopes to settle on a starting quarterback earlier rather than later during August drills.
“We’re going to push from practice one, from meeting one, to find a quarterback,” Hawkins said Wednesday as the three-day Big 12 football media days concluded.
“We’ll see what happens. I don’t think we can afford to wait for the first scrimmage, second scrimmage, third scrimmage.”
Neither of the two candidates has four-year college experience. Cody Hawkins, the coach’s older son, redshirted last fall. Nick Nelson arrived in December from a California junior college. Last year’s starter, senior Bernard Jackson, switched to a “slash” role in which he will be used mostly at wide receiver and running back. Incoming freshman Matt Ballenger likely will redshirt this fall.
Hawkins said he might not officially announce a starting quarterback until a week before the Sept. 1 opener against Colorado State. But he hopes a leader will emerge earlier and draw a majority of the practice repetitions.
“Whoever gets out and gets going will be the guy,” Hawkins said. “Either way, I think we’re going to be fine.”
CU senior running back Hugh Charles said the uncertainty at quarterback last season inhibited the growth of an offense trying to get comfortable with Hawkins’ system.
“Bernard did a great job, but Coach Hawkins likes more of an NFL quarterback, a pocket quarterback,” Charles said. “We didn’t have the continuity we needed.”
Anything shy of CU winning a bowl game would be considered a disappointing season, Hawkins told reporters.
“To sit around in the offseason and watch everybody else play,” the coach said, “you’re pounding yourself on the thumb with a hammer about three times a day. That’s hard to take.”
It’s not a rant, brother
Of course one of the first questions asked of Hawkins concerned his “This is Division I football … Go play intramurals, brother” soliloquy from national signing day in February. The sound bite was replayed countless times by talk radio stations from coast to coast.
“Probably 98 percent of the people thought it was great,” Hawkins said. “The only thing I didn’t like was people said I was ranting. I tell people I’m not a ranter. We went 2-10. If I was a ranter, I would have ranted during the 10 part.”
Footnotes
Kansas State coach Ron Prince was scheduled to take the three Wildcats players attending media day to the Alamodome after the team’s interviews Wednesday morning. The Alamodome will host the Big 12 championship game Dec. 1. “We’ve made it clear that’s our goal,” Prince said. Kansas State was picked by the media to finish third in the Big 12 North behind favorite Missouri and Nebraska. … Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy and athletic director Mike Holder decided the best way to prepare a team for a Big 12 schedule is from now on to play at least one marquee nonconference opponent. The Cowboys open Sept. 1 at Georgia. “To be ranked you have to beat those kind of teams,” OSU wideout Adarius Bowman said. … About to embark on his 10th season in Austin, Texas coach Mack Brown put his longevity into perspective: “I asked (veteran players) how old they where when I came to Texas and they were 10 or 11. So it shows that the recruits (incoming freshmen) were 6.” … OSU’s Gundy said he expects wideout Artrell Woods to play football again, though not this season. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound sophomore ruptured a disc in his back earlier this month while lifting weights. … After completing interview
obligations Wednesday, Hawkins planned to stop by the Dallas Cowboys’ training camp to say hello to former CU player Andre Gurode.
Staff writer Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
