One of Dan Hawkins’ challenges as Colorado’s coach is to evaluate his quarterback as if he had met the quarterback’s mother only once — in a living room late in the recruiting process.
Cody Hawkins, the coach’s son, isn’t playing well in his second season as CU’s starter. That was the case before the Buffaloes’ 38-14 loss to Texas on Saturday, and then Cody’s struggles — albeit against one of the top defenses in the country — in the Big 12 Conference opener underscored the point.
I’m uneasy dissecting the play of 20-year-olds who haven’t signed pro contracts. I’ll point out that when I’m asked if I could have played for my own father, a longtime college coach, I say: “Of course not. . . . I wasn’t good enough.”
My point: I’m more naturally inclined to congratulate and defend Cody Hawkins than I am to knock his play. But I’m not in denial about his struggles this season, either, and his coach would be wise to avoid giving CU fans — and high school prospects around the country — the impression that he is in denial about his son’s play. Note the word “impression”: This is one of those instances when perception is as important as reality.
Cody’s poised play as a redshirt freshman in 2007 seemed to foreshadow better things from him in the next three seasons. He doesn’t have a rifle arm or ideal size. He can’t compensate for that with big-play mobility. Yet last year, at least, he had the aura of a leader, a winner and a guy who would be a solid, or better, four-year starter.
Although Dan Hawkins himself repeatedly brought up the nepotism issue in interviews and production meetings with broadcasters, saying he knew he was taking a lot of heat for playing his son, that was a straw issue. Anyone paying attention believed that Cody Hawkins was the best quarterback on the CU campus.
Still, something’s wrong this year.
Cody was 13-for-33 for only 118 yards against Texas. His protection was spotty from a line patched together in the wake of an injury siege. The running game didn’t help reduce any of the pressure. Yet the elite quarterbacks make something happen — often in daunting circumstances. Through five games, Hawkins is 100-for-169 for only 926 yards.
“You look at stats and, again, I don’t know where he was, but I’m sure it wasn’t great,” Dan Hawkins said after the Texas game. “But you have to get your running game going to complement your play-action, and then you have to be able to protect as well. He functionally didn’t play great, but that’s kind of residual of the circumstance too.”
That’s all true.
There’s also some psychology involved: The coach understandably is trying to keep his quarterback from getting down on himself and is trying to increase the chances of a Cody revival in the remainder of the season.
I have no doubt that Dan Hawkins isn’t fooling himself about his son’s physical tools. He accepts and demands evaluation input from Mark Helfrich, his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The head coach knows, too, that the difference-maker of a quarterback — one at least mildly reminiscent of Chase Daniel, Sam Bradford, Todd Reesing or Colt McCoy — isn’t on his roster now, and that if he wants to be the CU coach in 2012 or so, he’ll have to get that blue-chip guy into Boulder.
But if the perception becomes that the coach won’t face reality about Cody Hawkins’ ability, and that Dan Hawkins is determined to make excuses for him, that creates other problems in the battle to keep the CU program on the upswing. Until now, the only reasonable point to raise about the father-son combination was that it might deter elite quarterback prospects from considering Colorado in the next couple of years. Two high school senior quarterbacks from Southern California — Jordan Wynn of Ocean- side and Clark Evans of Los Alamitos — have indicated they plan to sign letters of intent with CU next spring, but in the inexact science of rating prep prospects, neither is considered a potential superstar.
Benching Cody Hawkins and switching to redshirt freshman Matt Ballenger would be overreaction at this point. Cody is, after all, only a sophomore, and he has earned the chance to try to snap out of it. The bigger-picture issue has nothing to do with who takes the first snap in this week’s game at Kansas. It’s whether Dan Hawkins makes it clear that he really means his on-the-stump line about telling Cody he’s always trying to bring in someone who can beat him out.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
