Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 25, 1992 TAG: 9203250065
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Not!"
Hawkins has been pleased with his rehabilitation from a broken right wrist and has little trepidation as he enters spring football practice starting today at Virginia.
"The wrist is fine," said Hawkins, an All-America quarterback at Potomac High in Dumfries. "I'm throwing better than people would have imagined."
Hawkins began his college career at Notre Dame, where he played in two games as a freshman in 1990. He suffered a compound fracture of the wrist and a dislocated elbow last year in Notre Dame's spring game.
"Right away, I personally didn't think I would throw again - ever," Hawkins said. "I was literally holding my wrist together. But I was in so much pain, how would I know?
"The doctors told me from the beginning that everything would be fine and just to calm down a little bit. They didn't even put any pins in it."
Hawkins, who considered Virginia when he was in high school, said he left Notre Dame to be closer to home. However, he was only one class removed from incumbent Irish quarterback Rick Mirer.
At Virginia, quarterback and 1991 ACC Player of the Year Matt Blundin has used up his eligibility, but Bobby Goodman started two games last year when Blundin was sidelined with an infected elbow.
"I'm not going to say I'm after Bobby's job," said Hawkins, who passed for 1,760 yards and 20 touchdowns as a senior in high school. "Right now, the way I look at it is, I'm in competition for second-string. Bobby's not going to be here forever; I've got years left."
Hawkins, a 6-foot-4, 195-pounder, will be a sophomore in the fall. The only other recruited quarterbacks in the UVa program are Goodman, a fifth-year senior, and redshirt freshmen Symmion Willis and Mike Groh.
None entered college with the credentials of Hawkins, although some have questioned whether he can return to 100 percent of his previous form.
"I've heard a lot of things," Hawkins said. "Some of my friends said it was in the paper at Notre Dame that I was going to play defensive back forever. I can't believe it.
"If you asked people about my progress, you would expect an answer about my throwing. But I was giving [the wrist] whirlpools, giving it exercise and working with all the trainers and doctors, so it didn't seem like I was getting in a lot of throwing."
Hawkins said he has adopted a different throwing style, changing from an overhand motion to more of a three-quarters delivery, "which is actually a little more comfortable," he said, "because I'm throwing more with my body than with my arm."
Nine offensive starters return from a team that scored 170 points in the last four regular-season games, but Virginia has had a legacy of outstanding quarterback play, as evidenced by four All-ACC selections in five years.
"There are other players leaving - Nikki [Fisher], Ray [Roberts], Tyrone [Lewis] - but Blundin is who everybody is concentrating on," Hawkins said. "People want to know, `Can Bobby do it?' or `Can B.J. still throw?' I think they'll be happily surprised."
\ EXTRA POINTS: Head coach George Welsh has invited 10 players back for a fifth year, including offensive lineman David Ware of Roanoke and Charles Keiningham of Vinton. Salem's David Sweeney, one of three fullbacks to share time in 1991, will not be returning. . . . Virginia will hold its first spring game in several years on April 11.
by CNB