Colorado University Athletics
Hawkins Press Conference Recap
ON LB JORDON DIZON BEING NAMED BIG 12 DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR?“He is very deserving. Good things happen to good people and he is one of those guys. He has had a tremendous season; he’s played very well and been very productive. He has been very consistent and very solid, all the things I’ve said before. He shows up every day, he’s a very humble guy, he plays hurt, great leader?just very solid all the way around. He should be the Butkus (Award) guy as well.”
ON WHAT MAKES DIZON A SPECIAL PLAYER?“The guy has a relentless motor. We always talk about playing hard, playing smart and having fun and he does that. It is always one of those intangibles, and it is kind of hard to figure out exactly why some guys are going to work harder, whether you are a writer or a football player. Generally at the end of the day, the guys who can grind and grind hard every day are usually pretty successful.”
ON WHY DIZON SHOULD WIN THE BUTKUS AWARD?“Just his production, you look at what he has done and the schedule we have played. Again, it’s easy to say we all like our own guys, but we’ve had a lot of guys who have seen every football player in
ON WHETHER OR NOT DIZON IS THE BEST LINEBACKER HE HAS COACHED?“Yes he is, I would say he is very comparable to (former Boise State LB) Korey Hall, who is playing with the (
ON THE BOWL PRACTICE SCHEDULE?“We have generally scaled it out over the next couple of weeks and then we’ll just have to finalize it as some things shake out. When we see how that is going to all work out those last couple weeks.”
ON BOWL PREFERENCES?“We just want to play. We want to play another game.”
ON HOW MANY BOWL PRACTICES THEY GET?“I don’t know if we have it totaled out right now, I think that right now it is at 17, and most of those will be here before we leave for the bowl game.”
ON PLAYING FOR A BOWL?“I think it did a lot, you’re kind of hanging on the presuppose there of not playing again, you had senior day, you had Nebraska, you had the chance to play for a bowl game, you had the chance for a winning season, there was a lot hanging in the balance there. To kind of push through that was a good step. That being said, we still have a long ways to go, I don’t think anyone wants to look at a 6-6 season and going into a bowl game as a bench mark season. I don’t think any Buff coach, player or fan wants to look at it like that. What it does is give us a better option than the other one; I think the person who is most thankful is my wife because she doesn’t have to put up with me pouting through another offseason. So it was good for all the coaches’ wives, particularly mine.”
ON BEING WHERE HE WANTS THE TEAM TO BE?“You are never where you think you should be. I mean I think we should be in the National Championship game; I’m just used to shooting for the stars in that way. That being said, we are making progress and you understand the elements you are dealing with, both tangible and intangible and clearly the facilities upgrades, the influx of talent and the increased support all mean a lot. We are pushing in the right direction.”
ON HIM SAYING LAST OFFSEASON WAS THE HARDEST OF HIS CAREER?“For me, for most of my career I have just been used to either being in the playoffs or playing in a bowl game. It is like anything else, you get used to doing something then all of a sudden you are saying ?Pff, I’m not playing,’ and that is hard because you are so used to doing that.”
ON THE PROGRESSION OF QB CODY HAWKINS?“I think it is interesting, and people have talked about me coaching him and all of that, I think some times there are some positives to it. I think that the negatives to it are that the head coach downplays it more than maybe he should or could. You look at two sides of the thing, you say he’s a freshman and for a freshman guy in a new system, I don’t know where he ended up being ranked in the season passing stats but he was pretty high in terms of the whole CU history and even in total yardage. I think he was in the top 10 or pretty close to breaking the top 10. He knows he has a long ways to go and the other side of it is that I am just real proud of how he has handled it. Being the coach’s kid and being under fire at some points, and the other side of it, people being overly excited about his play. He has been good about being stable the whole time. It is interesting, I’ll tell it to you now, you know that first shot he took against Texas Tech he pretty much got knocked out; he didn’t remember the rest of the game. He played the rest of the game with a Kleenex stuck up his nose and he didn’t make a big deal of it and I didn’t make a big deal of it but I was really thinking to myself ?That’s pretty good, that is pretty tough right there.’ We all have a long ways to go but in general he did a pretty good job for us.”
ON WORKING WITH REDSHIRT PLAYERS DURING BOWL PRACTICES?“Usually about the first eight or nine practices, about half of them, are spring ballish. You are trying to keep your ones (first strings) sharp and getting your other guys some work, so that is very beneficial for us. You can’t give them too much of an influx of game plan material too early; I think they kind of get burnt out from that and you just have to be careful because you kind of use this time to rebuild your starters mentally, physically and emotionally and that whole thing. Then you also want to get a good amount of work for everyone else too.”
ON CU’S STYLE OF PLAY BEING A BENEFIT?“I think we have had the blessing that 10 of our games have been on national TV on some level. So, almost anyone who has some kind of interest in our program or our players has had the opportunity to see our guys play. That has definitely helped us, our style of play and tempo of play people appreciate and they have seen what we’ve gone through over the year and that does a lot for you. That helps you market yourself to people that want to see what you do schematically and for kids who are interested in seeing what kind of football you play.”
ON NEXT YEAR’S SCHEDULE?“I am pretty much focused on the bowl game right now, so I haven’t really looked that far ahead.”
ON COLORADO STATE HEAD COACH SONNY LUBICK?“He is a very class guy. Those people who know him know that he is a genuinely classy guy, so is his wife, and Misty (Hawkins) and I have got to know them a little socially away from football. He has done a lot for
ON TEXAS A&M HIRING MIKE SHERMAN?“Obviously he has tremendous experience, tremendous credentials and tremendous contacts down there. It will be one more barn burner game so strap it on. It’s kind of a who’s who of coaches so it’ll be another tough game, a tough road on the Big 12 map.”
ON THE IMPROVEMENT AT KANSAS AND MISSOURI?“I am never totally surprised; it is interesting when you look at what has gone on at those programs. They kind of weathered the storm with the coaching staff, hung in there with them and established some continuity and then I don’t know the exact dollar amount but both of those programs have put $40-$50 million into their program in the last few years because they are tired of getting spanked around. They want to get back into the hunt. The reality of college football, particularly in the last 10-15 years is that it has been a little arms raceish. They have made an investment in their coaching staff, an investment in their facilities and said ?Hey we are going to get back in this deal.’ Anytime you do that it usually provides a benefit.”
ON REDSHIRT PLAYERS?“I think that one of the reasons that we have been better as a football team has been our scout team. I think that both our offensive and defensive line have been better. I’ve had years where our team has basically gone against trash cans, and that is a tough thing to do. They have done a nice job; I think that [Strength & Conditioning] Coach [Jeff] Pitman has really liked them in the weight room. They’ve gotten a lot bigger, a lot stronger, so we are excited to get them in the mix and to single out one guy probably wouldn’t be fair because there are a bunch of them who have done a nice job.”
ON THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME?“When they played last time it came down to turnovers,
ON CB TERRENCE WHEATLEY AND DT GEORGE HYPOLITE BEING NAMED FIRST TEAM ALL-BIG 12?“Obviously it was tough to not have T-Wheat (Wheatley) the last couple of games, both from a physical standpoint as well as an emotional standpoint. George has played very, very well and I think that both he and [DT] Brandon [Nicolas] have played very well for us in there. One of the benefits of getting to play in a bowl game is that you get Terrence healthy and he gets to go out playing rather then standing on the sidelines so that is big.”
ON DT GEORGE HYPOLITE?“One thing is that he is a very smart football player, and people would always love to stereotype any football player, particularly a defensive lineman. I think there are very few times that they line up in a formation where he doesn’t know what they like to do from that formation. He can stand there and tell you, by in large, what they are going to do or at least what they have done out of that formation. He is also a very strong person up front and a good technician and [Defensive Line Coach] Romeo [Bandison] has done a good job with teaching him technique in terms of how to take on blocks and use his hands. It is just a combination of those things.”
ON POTENTIALLY NOT HAVING HYPOLITE FOR NEBRASKA?“You never know, you hope those guys are coming around and he was coming around and feeling better. [Head trainer] Miguel [Rueda] was feeling good with his progress and fortunately we did get him, we subbed a little more then we usually do but it worked out okay.”
ON TEAMS HAVING MORE OFFENSIVE SUCCESS AGAINST CU THE LAST THREE GAMES?“I think a little bit of it was A, the style of team we are playing and the other thing is just being banged up and nicked up. I mean we go to
ON MAKING RECRUITING VISITS?“Yeah, we’re grinding. I’m going out today, we have everybody out?they took off Sunday. [We have] roughly 18 scholarships, maybe a few more but that is roughly how many we have to offer.”
ON IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL WALK-ONS?“Yeah we are identifying some, and it is a mix of guys who don’t have offers or they don’t have offers from the right teams and they look at our history with giving walk-ons the opportunity to gain a scholarship down the road. They talk to our players and former walk-ons about the opportunities they have got and they think that they may be better off to come to
ON HOW CLOSE CU IS TO HAVING DEPTH AT ALL POSITIONS?“We still have some spots where we have two class gaps and have some work to do there. We’ll probably be a little better after this year but I think the following year will be the year where we will be able to cinch it up and go. You just don’t want to have a lot of that on your depth chart where you go from a senior to a freshman or something to that extent.”
ON WHETHER THE COACHING STAFF WILL STAY INTACT?“I hope so, I hope so. I will tell you this though, we have a very good staff, a very respected staff and I think we had probably maybe six of those guys who could have left for a lot more money last year. Hopefully we will get to return most if not all of those guys because I think that goes a long way to establishing continuity and familiarity with what is going on. You look at how many coaches have left Bob Stoops’ staff and there are a lot of guys on our staff who have the potential to do that down the road if they so choose.”
SENIOR LINEBACKER JORDON DIZON
ON BEING NAMED BIG 12 DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR?“It’s an honor, it definitely is. There are a lot of tangibles that go on behind this; I have to thank my coaches, Coach Cabral and Coach Hawk. I have to thank my D-line, [DT] Brandon Nicolas and [DT] George Hypolite because with out both of them none of this would have been possible.”
ON POTENTIALLY WINNING THE BUTKUS AWARD?“No, it isn’t really important to me, if this is the end of the road, if this is where it ends then I am happy where I am. I mean it’d be really nice to win it, but I’d rather go out and win a bowl game. I’d rather have a bowl game so that I can spend an extra three or four weeks with the guys I call my brothers and see as part of my family. It is a lot more important to me to get to go to a bowl and spend another three or four weeks with these guys than it is to win the Butkus. It is on December 7, in Orlando (
REDSHIRT FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK CODY HAWKINS
ON BEING BORN IN 1988?“I’m an 88er, year of the dragon...I feel very privileged.”
ON WHAT HE REMEMBERS FROM THE TEXAS TECH GAME?“We won! It was nice to get a win. Who told you about that (not remembering the game itself)? It was an interesting game, I got hit and I started to notice that I was spacing out a little bit. Then I was talking to [WR] Scotty [McKnight] and I couldn’t stop thinking about board games and other weird stuff, it was weird. I just had to read the card and do exactly what the card said because I couldn’t really remember practicing those plays during the week. I made it out, we won and I’m all good now.”
ON WHEN HE STARTED TO GET BACK TO
ON CU HAVING THREE MEMBERS OF THE ALL BIG 12 FIRST-TEAM DEFENSE?“I think it says a lot about the players and the staff and the position they put themselves in through the off-season and working really hard and being leaders on and off the field. All of those players (Jordon Dizon, Terrence Wheatley and George Hypolite) are very deserving of the awards that they got and they are a big part of our team success.”
ON BOWL GAME PREFERENCE?“The warmer the better, you guys probably don’t get into it but we’re all trying to figure out what the bowl gifts are, if you get a new ipod or an xbox...whatever. I really don’t think it matters where we play; we’re just pumped to go out and get to play with each other one more time. It doesn’t really matter to us where we play, we’re going to go out there together and have fun.”
ON HIS PROGRESSION?“Let’s see we were 1-0...1-1...1-2...2-2...3-2, I think that at the end of the year the whole offense started to get a hold of things a little better. We’re still making some mistakes because we have some young guys but we are trying to get those kinks out. I think that I, like the rest of the offense, started out good and we all did some good things and some bad things. Personally, I think I got better as the year went on, but there are definitely some things I need to work on?both for the bowl game and for next season.”
ON THROWING ONLY ONE INTERCEPTION AFTER
ON BEING AWARE OF BEING WITHIN ONE INTERCEPTION OF SETTING THE SCHOOL RECORD?“Yeah I was aware of that, are you kidding me? If I got the record I was getting no Christmas presents, so I’m glad I didn’t. I was told that, not verbally but through body language. He [Dan Hawkins] called me out in a couple of meetings and let me know, but it wasn’t anything I didn’t know already. It is going to be tough to be successful when you turn the ball over and I have to keep working on limiting that.”
ON WHETHER OR NOT COACH HAWKINS IS EASIER TO BE AROUND NOW THAT THEY HAVE BECOME BOWL ELIGIBLE?“Definitely. Over Thanksgiving we had the opportunity to go to a bowl so he was on lock down mode, getting ready to beat the Huskers. Then a couple days after that he actually went to the museum with the rest of the family as opposed to being at home going like this?(rubbing his temples)?with the TV off and listening to Kenny G and Van Morrison all the time. I think he is okay now, he is just focused on recruiting and winning the bowl game and hopefully it’ll be a lot happier holiday season then it was last year.”
ON WHETHER OR NOT IT IS SCARY WHEN THE CROWD RUSHES THE FIELD?“It’s not scary. It is a lot scarier when there is one guy who is three times my size running at me and I still have to throw the football. You’re so excited anyway, you’re running around and I know some people say it isn’t classy with how often the CU students rush the field but I think it’s awesome. Here at
ON WHAT THE CROWD SHOULD DO AFTER A REALLY BIG WIN?“Every win is a big win, I don’t know?maybe we can get everybody to rush the field. There is only a certain percentage of the student body that actually makes it onto the field, so maybe if it is a really big win then we can get the alums on the field too.”
ON HOW THEY ARE GOING TO STAY SHARP BEFORE THE BOWL GAME?“Coach Pit (Pitman) is really excited because he gets to grind us like nobody’s business these next couple of weeks to make sure we stay in shape. They have really been emphasizing with us that your special teams will suffer and so will your conditioning so we’re going to do our best to make sure that doesn’t happen. We’re also going to have some player organized practices; we’re throwing seven-on-seven every Tuesday and Thursday after conditioning. We’re trying to do some red ball type of stuff as well as some offense and defensive situational type stuff. Then as soon as we figure out where we’re going and who we’re playing we can start watching some film and game planning.”
ON THIS SEASON?“I had a lot of fun but I think my productivity could have been a lot higher, actually I don’t think, it definitely could have. Hindsight is always 20/20 and you always wonder why you didn’t make some decisions but it is only going to help me grow because I have three more years to play if everything goes the way that I want it to. I thought it was okay, it was definitely a building block for the program but we have to keep getting better and the expectation from you guys and from ourselves are only going to get higher. Both for the bowl game and through the offseason, we’re going to have a good recruiting class and we’re returning a lot of young guys who did a lot of good things for us this year. Having another year under our belt we’re going to go out expecting to do good things next year and it all starts with this bowl preparation.”
ON NEXT YEAR’S SCHEDULE?“I have looked at it, we were kind of talking about it in the locker room the other day. We were talking about whether we wanted
ON GOING 70 PASSING ATTEMPTS WITHOUT AN INTERCEPTION?“If we had been talking about that a third of the way through the season it probably would have been six passes, so I guess 70 is a lot better. But I think that number should be a lot higher.
“We change our playbook so much that it’s not so much that as it is getting used to game time situations. Knowing when you can force a throw and when you can’t. Because sometimes when you are on the field you want to throw a touchdown, you’re thinking ?I want to throw a touchdown, I want to throw a touchdown so bad’ or ?Oh my gosh we have to have this first down.’ But there are sometimes when you don’t need to, where throwing the ball away isn’t a bad play but taking a sack or throwing an interception is. Emphasizing that and getting a feel for that really helped me but we have a bowl game now too so hopefully I’ll be able to have another game without turning it over.”
ON HAVING ALL THE CU FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK RECORDS?“That is kind of a result of the situation we were put in when B, White (former QB Brian White) and Cox (James Cox) left and with Bernard [
ON BEING COACHED BY HIS DAD?“I guess there is a little bit of both worlds (his dad the coach and his dad being his dad); there were times where he thought something was good or something was funny and I could definitely tell because of a dad look where I could tell without him actually saying anything. Then there are some coach looks too that you don’t get sitting around the dinner table because I don’t think as a father he has ever wanted to cut my head off but as a quarterback there are a few times he may have wanted to.”
ON A TIME COACH HAWKINS MAY HAVE WANTED TO CUT HIS HEAD OFF?“The fourth down play against Miami-Ohio is probably the stupidest play I had. We were winning by 40 or something so even if I check it down there it keeps from giving them any momentum so that was a time he really looked through the back of my skull and roasted me with his laser beam vision.”
ON A TIME HIS DAD MAY HAVE WANTED TO CUT HIS HEAD OFF?“There haven’t been too many but there was one time when I was in second grade I discovered what prank phone calls were. I kept calling this jewelry store and telling them our house was on fire so they called back and my dad found out and he was not happy. I tried to hide under the bed but I guess parents think to look under there. I thought it was a brilliant place to hide. I can’t tell you that (the punishment), I don’t want to get in trouble.”