The Wolverine

2020 Football Preview

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

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110 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW mer player for Brown who has also coached with the U-M defense's veteran leader. Hawkins hasn't missed a beat with the new secondary coach, given the task ahead. Throughout the COVID-19 shutdown, they lived in the online meetings world, get- ting to know each other and mapping out a plan for the months ahead. "We talk a lot, actually," Hawkins said. "We've had a lot of conversations, a lot of one-on-one time. We're doing Zoom meet- ings. I definitely get enough time to catch up. "I'm a senior, and he's looking to me to be a leader and lead these guys in the right direction. We're building that bond with each other. He's a great guy." He is one among many ready to build on Michigan's multiple successes of 2019. The Wolverines didn't end the season the way they wanted, but they built up more than a few confidence points along the way, knock- ing off two of their top three rivals. A 45-14 rout over Notre Dame under the lights in The Big House felt plenty satisfying for a team that stumbled out of the gate in South Bend the year before. "We definitely were coming out of that game with a win," Hawkins said. "We had to play Michigan football. If we play Michigan football, nobody can beat us." Michigan State certainly couldn't. The Wol- verines grabbed a 3-2 lead in that series since Jim Harbaugh's arrival by throttling the Spar- tans 44-10, also at Michigan Stadium. That felt satisfying, even for someone who needed to learn about the rivalry as he went along. He admits it involved an acquired abhorrence. "It feels great, especially for the guys that are from the state of Michigan," Hawkins said. "We go out there and we've got to win this game. Playing State, that's a game we all live for. "Coming from New Jersey, I didn't know of the big rivalry in the Michigan-Michigan State game. I didn't look into it too much. Now that I'm actually in it, it plays a lot into the season, being state champions." Hawkins harkened back to his freshman season, when the Wolverines had suffered through a highly unsatisfying decade against the Spartans. Being part of that turnaround leaves him with a smile, and he caught the importance of doing so early on. "That's when I realized, 'Oh yeah, this is the game, right here.' This is the game that Michigan needs," he said. It's definitely one of the games Michigan needs. There's another, infinitely less satisfying in results over the course of Hawkins' career. He acknowledges the unfinished business there. He won't dwell on it, but there's a quiet determination in his conversation when he talks about going down to Columbus one last time. "Every single day, we've got a chip on our shoulder," Hawkins said. "We're working towards that next level. "We're going to get over that hump. A lot of people might not believe in us, but we believe in ourselves. Everybody on that field and everybody in that locker room definitely believes in each other, and we're definitely going to get that win this year." Hawkins couldn't help in that effort last year. An injury took him out of the game and disrupted Michigan's secondary. There's no question, Brown noted, that the Wolverines were impacted by the veteran safety's absence. "That was a big loss to us at the end of the year," Brown said. "It took Daxton Hill, who is an excellent player, and 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." Now, Hawkins and Hill figure to be play- ing side by side in the last line of Michigan's defense. That will get them, their coaches and a host of onlookers excited. Hawkins saw what everyone else did a year ago — the former prep All-American possesses considerable skill. Michigan named Hawkins its Most Improved Player on defense after the 2019 campaign. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL

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