Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Don't Count Cody Out
October 14, 2009 | Football
BOULDER - As promised late Saturday night in Austin, Texas, sophomore Tyler Hansen will open as Colorado's quarterback this week against Kansas. Beyond that, there are no promises.
This addendum to Hansen's starting assignment arrived Tuesday afternoon: Coach Dan Hawkins said it's premature to erase deposed junior starter Cody Hawkins from the picture and "there's a very good chance you see both of them" Saturday against the Jayhawks (Folsom Field, 5 p.m., FSN).
 "Right now, the plan is Tyler's going to play first," added offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Eric Kiesau. "It's kind of hard, because there are some things that Cody does well. If we can use that, we are.
"We don't have a plan yet to do anything like that, but you don't know really. We just have to wait and see how Tyler does."
Before the Texas game, Kiesau said the Buffs were a college football anomaly because they didn't have a true backup. With Hansen thinking redshirt, freshmen Clark Evans and Seth Lobato were being groomed for temporary duty behind Cody Hawkins, who has thrown nine interceptions in five games.
But with Hansen's redshirt discarded for a second season, Kiesau said, "We have a backup. They've got to compete and they've got to play. Tyler starts, but it's the same deal: if your starter isn't doing well, you go to your backup. Right now, Cody is our backup. If Tyler goes in and does well, we'll let him roll.
"I think maybe that's the ambiguity is just now it's a normal college football team - you've got a starter and a backup. Now, the thing we might do is if we can get Cody into some situations where he can help us, we will. But if Tyler is doing fine, Tyler will play."
That apparently is what Hansen expected, and that belief might have been underscored by Kiesau's postgame statement to reporters that he didn't want to be "wishy washy" with the situation. Hansen said he would rather not share playing time, but added he would leave that decision to his coaches: "Right now, I'm looking at it like I'm not sharing any time. But if that's what they want and what the team needs, I'll do it.
"It's kind of tough, but you just have to deal with it. That's the situation; you just have to be a man about it."
Hansen indicated he was unaware that anything regarding his starting/playing status might have changed between Saturday night and Tuesday afternoon.
He also reiterated his disappointment in not initially being named No. 1 in August camp: "I thought I could have been the guy from Day 1 (and) was a little disappointed. They chose Cody, so I wanted to prove people wrong. I had a great couple of weeks of practice and wanted to prove people wrong."
Dan Hawkins said while he doesn't want Hansen to operate against the No. 15 Jayhawks with the feeling that "the hook is hanging over his head," Hansen still must be able to move the offense.
To which Hansen responded: "I'm playing for the job, I guess, so I have to perform and get a 'W.' I just want to win games. I'm definitely going to play my butt off and try to beat Kansas. I'm definitely working as hard as I can to be that guy. Whatever we have to do to win games, I'm OK with."
After noting during his weekly Tuesday media conference that Cody "made some great plays" against the Longhorns (he was 6-of-18 for 68 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INT), Dan Hawkins said he "expects more of him" in the red zone situation where Cody threw the game-turning interception that was returned 92 yards for a third-quarter touchdown. CU trailed 17-14 at the time and wound up losing 38-14.
Asked if expecting more of his son in that situation than what he might have expected of another quarterback was fair to Cody, the father answered, "No . . . but life's not fair."
The elder Hawkins also said "there's no manual" for CU's current QB situation and that if Hansen "gets inordinately hot (at the position)," Cody might spend the rest of the season as a backup.
"The thing is, everything is fluid," Dan Hawkins said. "Tyler is going to start. It's Tyler's show; how that goes, I don't know."
The scene was eerily similar last fall when Hansen stayed on the sidelines until Game 7. He made a surprise appearance against Kansas State and was instrumental in CU's 14-13 win.
Hansen started the next two games (losses to Missouri and Texas A&M), but the following week, Cody Hawkins came off the bench to guide CU past Iowa State. Hansen played sparingly in the season's final two games (losses to Oklahoma State and Nebraska).
Dan Hawkins acknowledged the importance of continuity at quarterback, but added, "I think Cody has kind of known that if things didn't go well, there was a possibility that Tyler could come in. And I think Tyler knows the same thing about Cody."
 But, Dan Hawkins noted, Hansen's margin for error won't diminish if he throws "an interception or two or if he stumbles for two or three series.
"We're not going to do that to him; we're going to be fair - as fair as we can be."
Nevertheless, decisions concerning quarterbacks, said Dan Hawkins, are different than with players at other positions: "You coach the other players, you handle the quarterback."
When a decision is made to pull a starter, Hawkins said the process "sort of gnaws at your gut. You're sort of saying, 'It's all your fault, and changing you is going to be the solution.'
"Again, you go back and look at the (Texas) film and you're going, well, there's 10 other guys and a bunch of coaches in there, too. But that, being said, you have to live in the moment and go with it, and that's always not exactly correct."
After making that decision, he said a coach is "walking around with a big old rock in your stomach . . . . You feel bad for the guy that came out, bad for the guy that went in. You don't feel good, you just don't. You like to have that warm fuzzy feeling in your stomach - and you don't."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
