Daryle Hawkins could be anything he wants to be.
He could be a standout basketball player competing in the NCAA tournament — the sport was his first love, after all. A skinny, 6-foot-4-inch post player, Hawkins led his Omaha Central High School team to three Nebraska state championships in his four years, earning a reputation for toughness among his peers.
“He broke his nose in practice (one day),” Omaha Central basketball coach Eric Behrens told the Omaha World-Herald, “and asked our trainer to pop it back into place.”
He could be the mind behind your next favorite thing. Hawkins, who carried a 3.8 GPA in high school, is looking to major in product design, one of a handful of athletes considering the same major.
“With that major, it’s possibly a nice way to get into Nike, get an internship,” he said. “I want to make advertisements.”
He could be Oregon’s next starting quarterback. Maybe not this year — Hawkins is behind Nate Costa and Darron Thomas on the Ducks’ depth chart — but maybe someday soon. Before the specter of offseason arrests and other incidents loomed over the Oregon football team, the specter of quarterback injuries hovered over the Ducks. After all, how else would Jeremiah Masoli have gone from fifth-string quarterback to national name (to tragic figure)?
Hawkins, for all intents and purposes, is a backup plan right now. And he wants to be ready.
“He’s very athletic. He can run really well, and he’s smart,” offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said. “He just needs to believe that he’s smart and believe what he’s thinking and play it.”
Hawkins has room to grow into the quarterback position. Where more and more kids are learning the position at a younger age, Hawkins’ first repetitions at the position came in the eighth grade. He didn’t start for the Eagles until his senior year, playing wide receiver and free safety and patiently waiting for his turn.
Omaha Central won the Class A state championship game in Hawkins’ junior year, and he was eager to repeat as a first-year starting quarterback. In the Eagles’ third game, however, he broke his collarbone, effectively ending his season and hampering his goal of a Division I football scholarship.
“I talked to a lot Big 12 Schools, I talked to (Ohio State head coach Jim) Tressel, I talked to the coach at Florida,” he said. “They were like, ‘You don’t have enough film.’ I didn’t have much (evidence) to prove myself. I knew I could do it. When I went to camps I proved it. But you’ve got to have P.T., right?”
When college decision time came, Hawkins had his eyes on Northern Iowa when the Ducks jumped in late with a scholarship offer. Hawkins was a known quantity to the Ducks, who had him in a summer camp as a sophomore.
“That’s where they really noticed me. I dominated at that camp,” he said. “I was really young, so they’re like, we’ll keep an eye on this kid.”
He was directed toward Oregon from Omaha by his uncle, Harold Reynolds, a former All-Star second baseman with the Seattle Mariners. Reynolds was born in Eugene and drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1980 out of Corvallis High School; Reynolds’ brother Donnie played baseball at Oregon and is a member of the Duck Sports Hall of Fame.
“He was like, ‘I’m going to send you up to (the) Oregon camp. Oregon is dope. They’ve got Nike there,’” Hawkins said. “I’m like, OK. I’m not about to turn this down. I’m trying to get a scholarship.”
Hawkins sharpened his skills running of the scout team this past season, mimicking opponents as the Ducks went on to a 10-3 season, including a Rose Bowl appearance.
“You pretty much impersonated a new person every week. You had to know their tendencies,” he said. “It’s kind of like playing Madden. Who are we this week? Oh, I’m playing Cal? Kevin Riley? Drop back, (look) to the left, (look) to the right … try to give the defense the best look. For the game.”
Coming into the spring, Hawkins must improve on, well, “everything,” according to Helfrich.
“I don’t mean that in a bad way. He’s very young, and he hasn’t played the quarterback position very much in his life,” Helfrich said. “He just needs to stay confident because everything kind of looks the same, and sounds the same. He’ll get there. He’ll be fine.”
Hawkins has no doubt. The “tremendous competitor” — as his high school coach, Jay Ball, called him — could do anything.
“It’s my first time really running the offense,” Hawkins said. “(But) it’s coming together.”
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