Javian

Hawkins

Hall (6'0/204) hasn’t appeared in a game since he was injured during the Cardinals’ loss to Notre Dame on October 17. His return to action couldn’t have come at a better time for Louisville, as leading rusher Javian Hawkins announced on Monday that he was opting out of the remainder of the season and will instead prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft. Hall, who has rushed for 144 yards on 26 carries this season, has also returned eight kickoffs for 181 yards.

Hawkins (5'9/196), who was not in uniform for Saturday’s loss at Virginia, announced his decision via Twitter Monday morning. This is a big personnel loss for the Cardinals, as the redshirt sophomore was the team’s leading rusher on the season. Hawkins, who racked up 171 total yards and two touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving) in the Cardinals’ loss to Virginia Tech on Halloween, accounted for 822 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 133 carries while also catching 16 passes for 127 yards and another score. In 2019 he appeared in all 13 games for Louisville, rushing for 1,525 yards and nine touchdowns with an average of 5.8 yards per carry. Pro Football Network draft analyst Tony Pauline gave Hawkins a third-round grade in his most recent big board.

In total seven players are on Louisville’s inactive list, with the running back and defensive line being hit especially hard. With Hawkins (822 rushing yards, seven rushing TDs) and Hassan Hall (26 carries, 144 yards) out the Cardinals will without their top two rushers, and Atwell (40-528-5) is the team’s most explosive player on the offensive side of the football. Look for a healthy dose of Maurice Burkley at running back. As for the defensive line, starters YaYa Diaby, Derek Dorsey and Tabarius Peterson have all been ruled out. Cornerback Chandler Jones is the fourth defensive player on the inactive list.

In what is seemingly a weekly occurrence, Hawkins (5'9/196) took a handoff 90-yards down the left sideline in the waning moments of the first half for a touchdown. It was assumed that Louisville would just try to run the clock down while buried deep in their own territory and go into the locker room, but the explosive redshirt sophomore had other ideas. He also caught a 16-yard touchdown on a nice wheel route to bring Louisville within seven points late in the fourth quarter. He will try to propel Louisville to their third win next Saturday when the Cardinals travel to play Virginia.

Hawkins (5'9/196) is a home-run hitter. Today, he was swinging from the heels against a leaky Florida State defense. Once Louisville built up a lead, they used spacing and misdirection to gouge FSU on the ground, with QB Malik Cunningham and Hawkins too much speed to handle horizontally. Louisville ran for 291 yards as a team. Hawkins will look to keep the good times rolling against Virginia Tech next week.

Hawkins just missed out on a receiving touchdown, as his 29-yard connection with Malik Cunningham saw him come down inside of the one-yard line. Outside of that, the talented sophomore was held in check, and outside of a 28-yard run and the aforementioned catch, he wasn’t able to break through against the Notre Dame defense. Hawkins (5'9/196) will look to get back on track next Saturday against lowly Florida State.

Hawkins (5'9/196) spearheaded a solid rushing attack that recorded 242 yards and a 5.0 YPC on the day. He did lose a fumble in the second-half that led to a Georgia Tech score, but even so his bell-cow performance proved that Hawkins can be an impact player between the tackles despite his sub-200 Lb. frame. The compact Hawkins patiently picked his way through muddled line-play, deftly picking up extra yards while extending drives all game long. The all-purpose star will focus on helping Louisville pull off an upset next Saturday when they travel to South Bend to play Notre Dame.

The Louisville offense had no trouble moving the football on Saturday. The Cardinals’ defense also had no trouble allowing Miami to move the football. Hawkins (5'9/196) strolled home on a 19-yard run early in the third quarter to make it 27-20 Hurricanes. the redshirt sophomore didn’t have a big game against Western Kentucky -- at least by his standards with 71 yards on 19 carries, but the breakout star showed his impressive burst against the Hurricanes on Saturday. He’ll try to put up similar numbers but on the winning side next Saturday against Pittsburgh.

"[Hawkins] possesses tremendous burst through the hole and picks up big chunks of yardage from the line of scrimmage,” Pauline writes, adding that the 5-foot-9, 196-pound redshirt junior “also shows the ability to create yardage and make defenders miss.” PFF’s Anthony Treash is likewise keen on Hawkins, writing back in the spring that he was a “speedster by nature,” one who last season graded out third-highest in the country on plays in which he got past the line of scrimmage clean. And by the traditional metrics, he rushed for 1,525 yards and nine touchdowns in 2019. Pauline concludes his scouting report by writing that Hawkins should be able to develop into a “good situational runner and third-down back at the next level.”

“He produced the nation’s third-highest rushing grade on plays where he was able to pass the line of scrimmage contact-free,” Treash writes of the 5-foot-9, 182-pound Louisville standout. Hawkins exploded for 1,525 rushing yards and nine touchdowns last season after seeing just two carries in 2018. We wouldn’t quite go so far as to call him a Heisman sleeper for 2020 -- the numbers should be there, but not for a Playoff-contending team -- but he’s a fantastic back all the same.