Eric Morris Knows Threat WVU’s Michael Hawkins Poses to Oklahoma State

The Oklahoma State head coach doesn’t see West Virginia quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. as a limited quarterback. Far from it.

West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Michael Hawkins Jr. wasn’t hard for football coaches to find when he played at Emerson High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Everyone was on the dual threat quarterback who was a Top 200 recruit and was coveted by every power conference program in the country. Heck, even Eric Morris wanted him. He was in his first year at North Texas when Hawkins was deciding on Oklahoma.

Now, Morris must face him on Saturday when his Oklahoma State Cowboys (2-1) face the West Virginia Mountaineers (3-0). Hawkins is now the quarterback in Morgantown and putting up incredible numbers.

“I watched Hawkins in high school. I think he could do whatever [he wanted],” Morris said earlier this week.

WVU’s Biggest Threat to Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State head football coach Eric Morris. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

After two up-and-down years at Oklahoma, Hawkins transferred to West Virginia and has found a perfect fit in head coach Rich Rodriguez’s spread option attack. It takes advantage of everything Hawkins does well.

As a runner, he leads the Mountaineers with 322 yards rushing on 44 attempts with six touchdowns, three of which came against Virginia last week. He’s only thrown 38 passes, but he’s completed 26 of them and thrown for 477 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions.

Morris dismissed the idea that Hawkins is a limited thrower, based on his experience seeing him in high school and his tape this year. Between Hawkins and running back Cam Cook, the Mountaineers are one of the country’s best rushing teams. He sees Rodriguez leaning into what works — and right now that’s Hawkins running the rock.

“Some of these guys are great athletes and great runners, but they might have a fault and not be able to throw the football down the field,” Morris said. “Whereas he can, right? So I think he's a true dual threat quarterback, and that's what makes him so difficult [to defend] when you have a guy that can do both so well.”

That will be the Oklahoma State defense’s biggest task on Saturday. Morris said he liked how his team tackled and defended the boundary against Oregon two weeks ago. But in truth Ducks quarterback Dante Moore is not the threat on designed run fits that Hawkins is.

It will be a test for defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity and his 4-2-5 scheme. To this point the Cowboys have been able to stick to their scheme. This may be the first week they may have to make significant adjustments to the run.

“That's something we haven't faced this year,” Morris said of the WVU offensive scheme. “Really, it’s just being able to get that extra blocker into run schemes, right? So we're gonna have to do a nice job of communication, and whenever we do get a chance to get him [Hawkins] on the ground [we have to]. Missed tackles will kill you.”

Hawkins exploited that against Virginia in an impressive win over a Top 25 team that did similar things for WVU that Oklahoma State’s win over Oregon did for the Cowboys. In a Big 12 opener for both teams, two teams trying to turn things around, the difference could be one quarterback and one defense’s ability to slow down what he’s done best after three games.