WVU is Working to Keep Mike Hawkins Jr. — Here's Where Things Stand

The bye week has come and gone, and there is no new deal in place for West Virginia quarterback Mike Hawkins Jr. to remain a Mountaineer beyond the 2026 season...yet.

Don't panic, though. It takes time to iron out all the little details, and I am told there is still a chance that something could get done before the end of the regular season, which would be the most ideal situation for the Mountaineers.

As I've reported here several times over the last two months, Mike Hawkins Jr. and his family really love Rich Rod, the coaching staff, the program, and everything about WVU, and his representation has been in consistent communication with West Virginia's "front office" personnel, talking about a new contract.

Don't forget, Mike's younger brother, Maliek, is a part of the equation too. Maliek got his first defensive snaps since Week 2 in the win over TCU and should have more of a role in the final month of the season. The plan for him is just as important.

What it will take, money-wise, is not known, but WVU is confident that it will have the funds in place to not only strike a deal, but also still have the ability to retain other notable players and surround Hawkins and Co. with more talent through the transfer portal.

When asked about the importance of retaining Hawkins at his weekly press conference, WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez said, “Obviously, when you get a guy like Mike and his skills…and he’s still learning — that’s the fun part about it. It’s his first year in the system, so you know that every year he’s going to be better and better. He’ll be an anchor of the offensive group, but if you got a guy in your program that is an underclassman and he’s having success and he enjoys it here and he’s a building block on either side of the ball, you want to get those guys locked down as soon as possible because they’ll help other guys, whether it’s recruits or other guys coming back."

If and when Hawkins re-signs with West Virginia, there will be a wave of players in the transfer portal that will have WVU as a top option because they saw what he was able to do this season in year one of Rodriguez's system.

Hawkins is completely focused on each game that is in front of him and is letting his agent handle all of those discussions, so there are no distractions whatsoever.

This is not going to be a money-driven decision where he will consider all options, including a return to WVU and then go to the highest bidder, as some players do, or as you see at the next level in free agency. He is all about winning and being developed into an NFL quarterback. The Hawkins camp believes he can do that right here in Morgantown.

Hawkins is just one of many players that the Mountaineers are looking to lock up for the foreseeable future.

“GM Chuck Lillie, he had been started already with some of the retention talks," Rodriguez said. "But we talked as a staff; we talked about every guy and kind of helped give Chuck and our personnel staff some direction on where we wanted to go, what we wanted to do with it. Those talks are ongoing. We have the high school signing date coming up in December, and then the portal obviously in January, so to me, you got to have an idea before the year’s over so you know what you got to go get in the portal. We won’t get everybody re-signed by December, but I’m hoping to get most of them done by then, so we’ll have an idea of how many we’ll want to sign with the high school class as well.”

Should West Virginia ink Hawkins to a new deal, retain its core players who have eligibility remaining, and infuse more talent into the defense, the Mountaineers will have an opportunity to do something pretty special in the near future.

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter for the latest news and updates on the West Virginia Mountaineers

Add us as a preferred source on Google