'The moment is not going to get to him': Why Michael Hawkins Jr. is poised to lead Sooners against Auburn

Michael Hawkins Jr. flipped in the air and slammed onto the Owen Field grass.

There, on what was thought to be a touchdown pulling the Sooners within striking distance of Tennessee before replay review determined Hawkins was short of the goal line, his role as Oklahoma’s starting quarterback was seemingly solidified.

MICHAEL HAWKINS JR. WENT ALL OUT FOR THIS 🔥 He was ruled short of the goal line after review. pic.twitter.com/mlxrB7ClbG

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 22, 2024

As he laid in the end zone slow to get up from the impact, everyone on OU’s offense huddled around the true freshman while Kirk Herbstreit was ready to determine his future.

“This kid is your quarterback moving on,” Herbstreit said on the ESPN broadcast.

OU fans were shocked by the spark the Sooners’ backup brought to a stagnant offense. But to those closest to him, nothing Hawkins did, despite completing 11 of 18 passes for 132 yards and a touchdown as a true freshman against the country’s No. 2 offense, was out of the ordinary for him.

“That’s Michael,” said Kendall Miller, Michael’s coach at Emerson High School in McKinney, Texas. “... There’s nothing about it that was surprising.”

Miller wasn’t even surprised that he was thrust into action due to praise he heard from OU coaches in the offseason — notably co-offensive coordinator Seth Littrell and wide receivers coach Emmett Jones. One statement in particular from athletic director Joe Castiglione stuck out.

“He’s been the talk of spring football,” Miller said Castiglione told him in the spring.

Now that Hawkins has earned the start in No. 21 Oklahoma’s (3-1, 0-1 SEC) matchup against Auburn (2-2, 0-1), those closest to him have no doubt he’ll bring the same spark to the Sooners, and a level of composure to an inexperienced, injured offense.

“The moment is not going to get to him,” Hawkins’ friend and high school receiver Kylen Evans said. “It’s not going to make him nervous or falter or anything like that. He’ll perform the same way no matter who they’re playing. He’s going to do what he can do to the best of his ability.”

'Setting everybody else up for success'

One year ago, midway through Emerson’s season, Miller heard a knock on his office door.

His four team captains, who had each played for Emerson since their freshman season, approached Miller to request that Hawkins become a captain in his first season with Emerson.

“He earned their respect as a leader,” Miller said. “That’s just who he is.”

Hawkins joined the track team almost immediately after transferring from Allen High School to Emerson in spring 2023. Miller has his skill position players run track in the offseason, and Hawkins joined in an attempt to build a connection with his receivers.

He not only did so successfully, but started to establish himself as a respected leader by always being the first one to show up to the track, which carried over in the fall.

“I never, ever beat Mike Hawkins onto the field,” Miller said. “Everyday I walked out, he was always the first person on the practice field.”

As Hawkins steps into a starting role in OU’s fifth game, after arriving in Norman in January and creating buzz from a strong spring and fall camp, he’ll have to win over another locker room in an even shorter time.

A quarterback change is the kind of thing that could spark an offense or divide a locker room, especially due to the manner it happened for OU. Sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold went from the clear-cut starter as soon as Dillon Gabriel transferred in December through three games in 2024, building strong connections with the starters on offense, then lost that title in less than two quarters against Tennessee.

However, the Sooners’ offense is so depleted with injuries that working with the second team may serve as an advantage to Hawkins. He’s already built a relationship with multiple receivers, including sophomore Jaquaize Pettaway, who he connected with three times for 79 yards and a long 46-yard pass play against Tennessee.

“We’ve been close ever since he got here,” Pettaway said. “It’s been an ongoing relationship, and we just got really close to each other. That connection we have is an everyday at practice thing.”

Pettaway sees his new quarterback’s talent, but in just one game with Hawkins, he’s also picked up on his composure.

“Being on the field with him just feels like another day at practice,” Pettaway said. “I know he can place the ball where it needs to be. I just need to get my head around and catch it.”

Shortly after Hawkins transferred to Emerson, offensive coordinator Kory Brunson, who didn’t know much about the Mavericks’ new quarterback, strolled into the locker room after a team workout. Every player had gone to class except Hawkins, who Brunson saw sweeping the floors and cleaning up after his teammates.

It was common for Hawkins to hold his team accountable en route to leading them to a 12-3 record and the state semifinals.

“Anytime we had a bad practice or anytime something was going wrong, he would be the one to get everybody together and straighten us up,” Evans said. “Even small stuff like if our locker room got dirty, he would come talk to us about that and make sure we fix it.”

Though it’s rare to see a true freshman lead a program like Oklahoma, Hawkins has leadership experience, and the Sooners offense needs someone to step up after a disastrous start to the season. With all the injuries at wide receiver, junior Brenen Thompson stands as the only upperclassman receiver to catch a pass this season.

The offensive line is filled with offseason transfers, while the most successful running back this season has been true freshman Taylor Tatum, who will miss Saturday’s game, and offseason transfer additions Bauer Sharp and Jake Roberts lead the tight end room.

Experience is lacking at every position on the offense, so, why would it hold Hawkins back?

“He’s all in every play, and his teammates will see that and get behind him,” Evans said. “Just seeing how much he wants it every play, it’ll rub off on them and just grow their respect for him.”

Pettaway is not the only one who’s seen his opportunity open up under Hawkins. As a whole against Tennessee, OU’s offense gained 146 yards with Hawkins compared to 76 with Arnold. The Sooners now hope to see a continued expansion of opportunity for everyone on the offense.

Brunson is confident that will be the case.

“He’s going to be that quarterback that elevates everybody else on his team,” Brunson said. “It’s not going to be about him, it’s about setting everybody else up for success.”

“Most poised kid at quarterback I’ve ever known”

When Hawkins entered Saturday’s game, Miller knew what his face would look like.

He saw the same look of calmness and composure in every game Hawkins played — no matter the stakes — during his senior year at Emerson.

On Saturday, no matter how many times the Tennessee pass rush bulldozed through OU’s offensive line, forcing him to scramble to extend plays, Hawkins looked unfazed when taking on a 19-3 deficit against the No. 6 Volunteers.

“He’s the most poised kid at quarterback I’ve ever known…,” Miller said. “The greatest strength he has is that he’s never too high and he’s never too low. He’s going to be the same steady kid if you’re up by 50 or if the game is on the line.”

It reminded him of when Emerson played in the state semifinals against the defending 5-A champions South Oak Cliff. Everyone on Emerson’s side was buzzing with excitement, except Hawkins, who treated it like any other game.

“You wouldn’t have been able to tell week 15 different from week one,” Miller said. “So to see him do that every day and experience that, I knew when he went in that game what he would look like. … I’ve never seen a kid that stays that calm, especially under pressure.”

Miller remembers one instance when he took his coaching staff on a 50-minute drive to Argyle High School to watch Emerson’s next opponent, Argyle, one of the top ranked teams in the district.

When he arrived shortly before kickoff, he looked up in the stands to see Hawkins alongside a convoy of teammates he’d separately brought to scout Argyle. As a four-star prospect who had already committed to OU, where his dad played in 2002, months earlier, Hawkins had nothing to prove from winning, but that didn’t stop him.

“His path was taken care of, but that was not what was important to him,” Miller said. “He wanted his team to be successful.”

Miller believes that same preparation will carry over to his first college start against Auburn. The Tigers have allowed 16.8 points per game through four contests. In comparison, OU’s defense has given up 14.8 points per game.

In a 24-14 loss to Arkansas last weekend, Auburn allowed Razorbacks’ quarterback Taylen Green to rush for 80 yards on 18 attempts. Though his stats show only 22 yards on 12 carries against the Volunteers, numbers don’t tell the story of how many times Hawkins had to use his legs.

OU’s offensive line, which has allowed the third most sacks of any SEC team (12) and second most tackles for loss (28), will face an Auburn defensive line ranking in the top half of the conference in both tackles for loss (27) and sacks (8). Combined with a hostile environment of Jordan-Hare Stadium holding over 88,000 fans, Hawkins is positioned in what would be most young quarterback’s nightmare.

For him, however, pressure plays to his strengths.

“Even when the line breaks down, he could roll out two ways, roll right then roll back left and hit you perfectly on the run,” Evans said. “It’s crazy how he’s able to stay composed even when things are falling apart, like the line not being able to hold up. I’d say that’s his best ability.”

As Oklahoma’s first SEC road game looms, an impatient fanbase frustrated with four weeks of offensive incompetence will be watching as the Sooners’ arch rival, No. 1 Texas, waits next on the schedule.

The outlook on the rest of the Sooners’ first season in the SEC depends on how they perform against Auburn. It certainly won’t be an easy game for Oklahoma, and at the center of it all is Hawkins, who will run the offense in perhaps head coach Brent Venables’ biggest game since arriving in Norman.

“I believe in Mike,” Venables said. “... He hasn’t played a whole bunch of college football, he hasn’t been to that stadium, so you try to paint an adequate picture and then you pump in the crowd noise and then tell him to focus on the things you can control. If he’s a strong minded guy, he’ll do that.

“… He’ll have to bear a heavy burden.”

While those just learning about Hawkins see that same heavy burden, the people closest to him see a calm, composed freshman ready for his first opportunity, and potentially many more to come.

“I always said if he ever went in,” Evans said, “he wasn’t going to come back out.”