Baylor loses standout specialist to the transfer portal

During Baylor's 5-7 season, one of the bright spots for the Bears was their fantastic special teams. Baylor not only had an All-American punter on its roster, but the Bears had a very good redshirt freshman kicker in Connor Hawkins.

However, Hawkins appears to be headed elsewhere and won't be in Waco for the 2026 season. With just a couple of days left in the portal, Hawkins has entered the transfer portal, per On3's Pete Nakos.

Hawkins was a three-star prospect when he committed to Baylor in the 2024 class. He was ranked as the No. 17 kicker, per the Composite, and held offers from Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas Tech, but chose to commit to Baylor.

Baylor kicker Connor Hawkins has entered the transfer portal, @On3 has learned.

Was a perfect 37-37 on XPs and 18 of 22 on FGs with a long of 54 yards in 2025. He was 3 of 4 from 50+ yards on FGs.https://t.co/wMrfFrdlE6 pic.twitter.com/3aQN8YZDNi
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) January 14, 2026

Hawkins' dominant season at Baylor

In 2024, Hawkins appeared in two games, and took the year as a redshirt, but in 2025, Hawkins was the star.

Hawkins made 18-of-22 kicks this season and made all 37 extra points. Hawkins earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention for the season.

Hawkins delivered a game-winning 53-yard field goal in BU's thrilling 35-34 victory over Kansas State this season, marking his second game-winning kick of the 2025 season. He also made the game-winning kick against SMU in double overtime.

Baylor K Connor Hawkins — Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

His standout year was no surprise looking at his Kohl's Kicking profile. They had Hawkins as a 4.5-star kicker:

"Hawkins recently attended a Kohl's ranking event in October of 2022 in Dallas, Texas. He competed on all three disciplines and had a very strong performance on both field goals and kickoffs. He made 13 points out of 15 on field goals and hit a very impressive 70-yard, 3.79 second hang time kickoff. Hawkins has the leg talent required to play at the next level. Hawkins attended his first Kohl's ranking event during the 2022 Kohl's National Scholarship Camp and displayed some impressive talents. He had a big ball during kickoffs of 73 yards with 3.43 seconds of hang time, finished with an incredible 28 total points during the field goal charting and showed some strong moments during the punt charting. Hawkins is an exceptional ball striker and has some exceptional talent which should led into an exciting future!"

Baylor entered the season with both Hayden Arnold and Rhett Armstrong on the roster as kickers.

Hawkins' dominant season at Baylor

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