College Football
WVU’s Mike Hawkins Earns Votes as Part of Heisman Conversation
West Virginia’s Mike Hawkins has played at such a high level that he’s found his way to being part of Heisman talk. And to that end, he made the cut to be part of the top 10 of the current leaderboard for one aspect of the conversation.
As released on Tuesday, Oct. 27, Hawkins earned the No. 10 spot in the Heisman’s fan vote. He’s right behind fellow Big 12 quarterback Noah Fifita from Arizona.
However, WVU’s 5-3 record, caused due to defensive issues, will prevent Hawkins from being a serious contender for the most prestigious individual trophy in college football. But that’s not stopping Hawkins from being optimistic about the rest of the season.
Hawkins, always the optimist, delivered a motivating message to WVU fans about what’s still to come after the week off.
“I’d say our best ball is ahead of us,” said Hawkins after WVU’s 24-20 win over TCU on Saturday afternoon. “We’re obviously playing pretty good, but I feel like we have a lot of things we could fix. Me personally, too. This bye week is big for us. We’ve been at it for eight weeks, so it’s a good feeling.”
Hawkins then explained what happened to the offense – they suffered through their worst performance of the season despite still being able to get the win.
“I really think the biggest thing for us as a whole was just mental errors. For me, connecting with my receivers. I missed a couple of throws that I shouldn’t have missed. Those are big moments in the game, but you live and learn, and you get back. There’s a bye week, and you can fix it.”
Despite one rough outing, the Mountaineer offense still ranks as one of the best in the country. Winning a game thanks to the defense also can show what the overall team is capable of as well.
Through eight games, Hawkins has thrown for 1,598 yards, run for 836 more, thrown 11 touchdown passes, scored 16 on the ground, which leads the nation and has only turned the ball over twice via two interceptions.
Find more coverage of Mike Hawkins and the WVU football program at WV Sports Now.
