Back in March, Hawkins looked to be the second-best option at quarterback behind redshirt freshman Eric Soza. In the Bobcats' scrimmages, Hawkins looked uncomfortable in the pocket and lacked any semblance of timing with his wide receivers.
People inside the program questioned his commitment to improving as a quarterback and even went as far as putting him third on the depth chart behind Soza and a heralded freshman who had yet to throw a pass in college (Cuero QB Tyler Arndt).Hawkins kept fighting and soon the cards started to fall in his favor. Soza transferred out of the program and Hawkins was left as the top quarterback entering summer workouts.
With his new-found billing, Hawkins went to work in the summer and attacked 7-on-7 workouts with vengeance. Hawkins spent countless hours on the practice field with his wide receivers and slowly began to look like the quarterback of the future.
Then, in August at Media Day, Texas State head coach Brad Wright bestowed Hawkins as the No. 1 quarterback entering fall camp. Wright went as far as to say, "I've been asked one million times this offseason about who our replacement for Bradley George will be and I can tell you right now, it's Tim Hawkins."
So here is what Hawkins had to say at Texas State Media Day.
On what it meant to hear Wright name him the No. 1 quarterback: "Just hearing those words gave me confidence. Just because he said that now, it could change three weeks from now, but I just need to continue doing what I have been doing to be successful and show people I deserve that spot."
On if he deserves the role as No. 1 quarterback: "I don't know. It's not for me to decide. I mean, there is a fine line between confidence and cocky, so I have confidence going into the fall that it's my spot if I don't half-ass every practice."
On what he proved to himself or his teammates from the spring to summer: "A lot of people say I can't throw the ball, but I can throw the ball better than I can run the ball. I didn't get an opportunity to throw the ball a lot last year, but when I did, I thought they looked pretty good."
Texas State defensive back Darryl Morris on Hawkins during the summer: "He was always texting us, 'Hey, come out to 7-on-7. I'm going to be out there throwing if you want to cover.' It got kind of ridiculous after a while because it was constant, but that's the type of leadership you want to see out of a quarterback."
Texas State defensive end Ron Jackson on Hawkins' work ethic: "He works hard. A lot of people don't understand that about him because he's always joking around but he gets in the weight room and works. He gets out on the field and throws for two or three hours a day and then comes back for 7-on-7. I know a lot of people are doubting who is going to be the quarterback since we lost BG and we have Tyler (Arndt) coming in and they always want to tout the next big thing, but all the work Tim did this summer isn't going to go to waste."
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