9. Brad Hawkins
Yes, we’ve seen Brad Hawkins at safety for a little while now, but he could have been a wide receiver, came to Ann Arbor and worked a lot at VIPER before making the full-time switch to safety.
He had some tough early sledding, playing the bulk of the Notre Dame game in 2018 after Josh Metellus was ejected for targeting. But he had a solid year in 2019, cementing himself as a starter. If you need to know how good he is, just hear what Don Brown had to say on Thursday about Hawkins’ absence in the final few games.
“Well, obviously, that was a big loss to us at the end of the year. And it took Daxton Hill, who’s an excellent player to put him into a role where we had to change his role. Obviously, that was a very good experience for Daxton, but the overall play of our defense gets impacted because you lose a player of Brad Hawkins’ stature. The nice thing about Brad is that he’s learned the defense. There were times in his career where he was going through the growing pains of getting, executing at an elite level. It took him some time to learn that. Plus, also believe on the back end, you develop confidence as you play well, play and play well and you cover guys and have the ability to cover. This guy, everything’s on the upswing. It really is. He’s taken a leadership role. I’m meeting with the defensive leaders tomorrow and he’s one of the guys that I’m meeting with.
“Obviously, I feel very strongly about him having a strong year and then we’ll be wishing him good thoughts as he heads to the NFL.”
It’s a when, not if, Hawkins gets his NFL opportunity. But he has to stay healthy — which generally hasn’t been a problem for him — and build upon his first year as a starter.
Lots of room for upward mobility for him, but given that he’s not proven elite nationally yet, we’re putting him at middling — for now.
Where we see him as of now?
Fourth or fifth-round. Could move as high as second or third with a solid, productive season.