On Tuesday, just days ahead of WVU football opening spring practice, head coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the media for the first time since the end of the Early Signing Period on December. Unsurprisingly, one of the first questions on the agenda was about Michel Hawkins Jr., former starting quarterback at Oklahoma and one of West Virginia's top transfer additions this offseason.
Many feel pretty happy with what they saw from true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. last season, who started six games and earned two wins surrounded by offensive talent that was for the most part underwhelming. And Max Brown, who dealt with injury issues and never got a shot like Fox did last season, is also still lurking on the depth chart. But Rodriguez got into the details of why he wanted to bring Hawkins Jr. to Morgantown.
WVU football's head coach shared significant praise for transfer quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr.
Hawkins Jr. was a four-star prospect as a high school recruit, and signed with the Oklahoma Sooners. He spent is first two seasons in Norman, starting five games and making nine appearances during his stint with the program. He has thrown for 950 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions over the course of his career, while adding 262 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
"I knew about him from watching him a little bit, and obviously we have some guys that were at Oklahoma that saw him in person," Rodriguez said. "We wanted someone to come in an compete with Scotty [Fox] and Max [Brown] for the job, and somebody that had the skill set that we thought could be special in it. Mike has that, and he's shown that so far. He's a smart guy, it's really important to him, and he works hard."
"This spring is going to be really important to him, but he has all the skills that you want in a quarterback. He can run, he can throw, he's smart, he's competitive. And that was a big target for us, to find a guy in the portal we thought could compete with Scotty and Max and the rest of them to be our quarterback."