BOULDER — True to form, Colorado’s Cody Hawkins coached his co-quarterback and potential successor, Tyler Hansen, through the freshman’s first midweek news conference Tuesday. Hawkins pointed where to sit and undoubtedly whispered something about expecting dumb questions.
While some, if not most, starting college quarterbacks would sulk and maybe even storm off into the sunset if upstaged by a true freshman, Hawkins maintained his usual ear-to-ear grin.
Speaking of the time sacrifices and offseason regimen, Hawkins said: “It’s not necessarily to see yourself standing on top of some mountain with everyone cheering you on. . . . If I play and we lose or I never play a snap and we win, trust me, I’ll be much happier if we win.”
Against Kansas State, Han-sen threw a touchdown pass and carried 19 times for 86 yards. Until last week, he was running the scout team.
CU coach Dan Hawkins isn’t tipping his hand how he will mix the two quarterbacks on Saturday when the Buffs play at No. 16 Missouri.
“We’re just going to play whoever we need to play whenever we need to play him to get whatever we need to get done,” the coach said.
And don’t even look for a hint on how they will divide reps in practice.
“There was no magic formula last week, and there won’t be this week, either,” the senior Hawkins said. The move was the best-kept practice secret in nearly 40 years at CU. Dan Hawkins said it was two-fold to surprise Kansas State and keep Hansen out of the media glare.
Each quarterback credited the other at every turn.
“He’s been awesome,” Han-sen said. “He’s so supportive. When I threw the touchdown pass, I couldn’t stop smiling because Cody was smiling.”
Said the younger Hawkins: “Tyler is a very talented kid, and I can do some things as well. Our coaches are trying to do what’s best for the team in terms of moving the ballclub. If that means Tyler gets put in the game, we’ve got to get Tyler in.”
While the dual-QB status at CU is a novelty draw, CU’s focus this week is on Missouri’s Chase Daniel. Currently averaging 355 yards of total offense, Daniel burned the Buffs for five touchdown passes a year ago.
“No lead is safe when you have a quarterback like Chase Daniel,” Cody Hawkins said. At the suggestion of getting in a scoring shootout with the Tigers, averaging 45.9 points a game, Hawkins said, “Let’s be real here.”
Dan Hawkins said football is a great teacher of the fact that life isn’t always fair, and cited Eugene Goree moving from defensive line to offensive line as an example of getting through adversity.
“I’m proud of him,” Hawkins said about how his son has handled splitting time, but “I was proud of him before.”
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
