Football

COLUMN: Jury still out if Michael Hawkins Jr. has what it takes

MORGANTOWN - Michael Hawkins Jr. began his day by having the honor of introducing the talents of teammate Cam Cook to West Virginia football fans.

After taking Hawkins' handoff, Cook went on a 72-yard jaunt that - at that moment - gave WVU fans everywhere belief that last season's 4-8 season was firmly in the rear-view mirror.

By the end of WVU's 31-24 victory against Coastal Carolina on Saturday, inside Milan Puskar Stadium, the new Mountaineers' quarterback showed off plenty of his potential, too.

First, we give you the stats from the Oklahoma transfer: 11 of 14 passing for 132 yards and a touchdown, while adding 103 yards on the ground on 20 attempts with another TD. He became the first WVU quarterback since Garrett Greene in 2024 to have at least 100 yards rushing and passing in the same game.

"Mike showed some explosive stuff in practice and made a lot of plays," WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez said. "There were a few mistakes he would take back, I'm sure he would tell you, but I think he's going to grow a lot each game."

Now, for the ultimate question: Is the sophomore good enough to make enough of an impact in order for WVU and Rodriguez to turn around their football fortunes?

The answer, after Saturday's result, is a simple shrug of the shoulders.

At times, Hawkins looked electric. At other times, he was efficient. At other times, it was nearly the opposite.

"He's a very conscientious guy," Rodruiguez said of Hawkins. "He knows that we can play better as a unit on offense."

There was still too much of the game, though, that left you still wondering if Hawkins has "it," that indescribable flair the great ones all have.

On the WVU sidelines stood assistant coach Pat White. You already know he had "it" back in his days in a Mountaineers' uniform. Now, we're not going to get stupid and in any way try to compare Hawkins' debut with anything White accomplished back in the day, but what we did notice is Rodriguez's play calling on Saturday with Hawkins and Cook looked a lot like it did when he had White and Steve Slaton running his offense.

The execution was the difference, and let's be real honest here, it's going to be Hawkins' performance that's either going to tell us if WVU is headed in the right direction in 2026 or if the Mountaineers are simply going to be just another ho-hum team in the Big 12.

A seven-point win against Coastal Carolina? That's leaning toward ho-hum so far.

Some of it, we believe, is Rodriguez maybe got a little conservative in the second half with a 24-0 lead. After all, you don't want to showcase the entire playbook with UT Martin on deck for next week.

Kidding, obviously, because the real test is still two weeks away when WVU travels to Charlotte to play Virginia in what will be a running game showdown between Hawkins and Cook and Virginia quarterback Beau Pribula.

But, let's get to what Hawkins did well, beginning with his 49-yard touchdown pass to Armoni Weaver-Brown, in which Hawkins rolled to his right and remained patient enough for Weaver-Brown to get past the safety.

Hawkins' throw came off his back foot, usually a no-no, but the ball was perfectly lofted and on target.

The first play of the second quarter just may have been Hawkins' best play of the day. It was a quarterback run all the way and Hawkins should have been thrown for a 4-yard loss by Coastal Carolina defensive back Jalen Lee.

Instead, he somehow juked his way out of that bad situation and then outraced the outstretched arms of defensive back Ja'Marion Wayne on his way to an 11-yard run in what should have been a loss.

To be sure, there were some tough moments, too. Hawkins' fumble while attempting to stretch for the pylon in the second quarter is one play he'd love to have back. Instead of a WVU touchdown, the Chanticleers were gifted a touchback.

The entire third quarter was a question mark. WVU ran all of nine plays and didn't pick up a first down and didn't look good at all.

"The first half we played pretty well. The second half we stunk," Rodriguez said in his postgame TV interview. "We had penalties, gave up long drives, lost contain and the offense wasn't moving the ball. We've got a lot to work on."

Hawkins' 11-yard touchdown run with 2:58 remaining in the game supplied the winning score, but that only came after a roughing-the-kicker penalty.

So, there were some flashes of what Hawkins can do. There were also stretches where Hawkins simply looked like any average college quarterback you can find all over your TV or streaming device on any given Saturday.

Whether or not Hawkins is the right man for the job for Rodriguez and the Mountaineers, the jury is still out on that one.