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Sports
Wednesday, September 5, 2018 — 7A
Hawkins settled in as replacement for Metellus
Sophomore
safety
Brad
Hawkins saw the ball go up. He
turned his hips, his eyes fixated
on the opportunity that he’d
long awaited.
“(I) thought it was mine,”
Hawkins said Tuesday.
Of course, it wasn’t.
Instead, Notre Dame receiver
Chris Finke leapt over Hawkins’
back,
snatching
a
43-yard
touchdown
that
sent
the
stadium into a frenzy and gave
the Irish a 14-0 lead halfway
through the first quarter, a lead
Notre Dame carried through
the end of the game Saturday.
“He Moss’d him,” exclaimed
television commentator Mike
Tirico, referencing a play hall-
of-fame receiver Randy Moss
might make. Finke is 5-foot-10,
half a foot shorter than Moss.
Four plays after replacing
junior safety Josh Metellus,
who was ejected for targeting,
the 6-foot-2 Hawkins found
himself the victim of a surefire
poster. It was far from the
auspicious start Hawkins might
have imagined after countless
hours
honing
his
coverage
skills, lifting in the weight
room, watching film.
Defensive
coordinator
Don
Brown
simply told him
he’d make the
play next time,
that all he can
do is move on.
At
halftime,
Hawkins spoke
with
Metellus
who relayed a
similar message.
Hawkins saw the game as his
opportunity — one that some
never see. He wasn’t going to let
a single play derail that.
“It happens,” Hawkins said.
“I moved on to the next play,
and I continued to play the way
I know I’m capable of playing. …
I definitely was surprised, but it
happens.”
Hawkins
came
into
the
program as the 66th-ranked
receiver
in
the
country,
according
to
247Sports’
composite ranking. But when
he got on campus, Brown
approached
him
with
a
proposition.
Brown asked Hawkins to
do something most with that
pedigree would scoff at; he
wanted him to switch to the
defensive side of the ball. Far
from opposition, Hawkins was
eager to make
the move — in
fact, he’d decided
during his senior
year at Suffield
Academy in New
Jersey in 2016
that his future
would be best as
a defensive back.
That’s where
he concluded his
size and ability
fit best in his football future. It
doesn’t mean the move came
without trepidation.
“I thought I was going to be
bad at covering,” Hawkins said,
retrospectively, thinking about
when he first made the move
to defense in 2017. “Coming
into this system, you’re playing
man. I’d never really covered
anybody in my life, honestly.”
Hawkins turned to Devin
Bush Sr., on Michigan’s staff
as a defensive analyst at the
time, for guidance. Bush Sr.
played safety at Florida State
and then in the NFL for eight
years, winning championships
at both levels. He lent Hawkins
some tricks of the trade during
a freshman season in which
Hawkins played sparsely.
“Coach Bush helped me a lot
with my covering,” Hawkins
said. “Just him
playing
in
the
league. He has a
lot of experience.
He’s
a
winner.
He has a national
championship, he
has a Super Bowl.
Having that type
of mind in the
safety room with
you is definitely a
help.”
With more refined technique
and 20 extra pounds, Hawkins
came into camp and earned
praise from the coaching staff.
Though Metellus and senior
safety Tyree Kinnel came into
the spring and fall entrenched
as the returning starting safety
duo, Hawkins fought to claim
the role of next man up. Sure
enough, that became a necessity
eight minutes into the season.
On the road in a hostile
environment, against a top-15
team, Hawkins was ready.
“About two plays,” he said,
when asked how long it took
to become comfortable. “I just
went in there and just did my
job. It’s something that I’ve
been doing for the past two
years now. I thought I was
comfortable back there.”
For some, in the interim, the
touchdown
will
mask
all. It’s a play
Hawkins
should
have
made.
He
knows that.
Those
people
will
then
forget
Hawkins’
six
tackles and one
pass deflection,
his
strong
positioning
and
dutiful
work
all
night
in
replacing Metellus.
His teammates are not among
them.
“I think he did well,” said
sophomore
linebacker
Josh
Ross. “He’s also a young guy that
came in. But we’re all trying to
get to the level where we’re
above anybody and everybody.”
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore safety Brad Hawkins notched six tackles and one pass deflection after giving up a touchdown on Saturday.
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor
‘M’ cruises past Crusaders
At some point this year, the
Michigan volleyball team will lose
a set.
Right?
But that’s a question for another
time. Certainly not for Tuesday
night against Valparaiso, whom the
20th-ranked Wolverines defeated
in three sets (25-19, 25-13, 25-20) for
their sixth sweep in six games this
season.
It was a typical early-season
takedown
of
an
overmatched
opponent, done in style. While
the contest — especially the first
set — was pockmarked with bouts
of sloppy play, Michigan mostly
did what it was expected to do,
pummeling the Crusaders (6-2)
into oblivion with fluid chemistry,
formidable skill and sheer physical
power.
Junior setter MacKenzi Welsh
orchestrated
the
offense
to
perfection, dishing out 30 assists
with a diverse arsenal of passes,
while keeping the tempo smooth
and balanced. There to turn Welsh’s
sets into kills was an imposing front
line led by freshman outside hitter
Paige Jones, junior outside hitter
Sydney Wetterstrom, senior outside
hitter Carly Skjodt and redshirt
junior middle blocker Cori Crocker,
who contributed to a season-high
.363 hitting percentage.
In particular, Crocker was nearly
unstoppable, as the Wolverines
recognized a glaring mismatch
between their middle blockers and
Valparaiso’s right out of the gate.
So Crocker went to work, hitting
at a .778 clip with eight kills for the
contest.
How do you stop that if you’re
the Crusaders — and you have
only one starter taller than six feet,
compared to Michigan’s five?
For the most part, you don’t.
“Today was definitely a pretty
obvious mismatch,” Crocker said.
“We had a couple people that
definitely could have dominated
who they were matched up with.”
As Crocker feasted, her towering
presence also opened up the outside
for Jones (.438 hitting percentage),
Wetterstrom (eight kills) and Skjodt
(14). But the offensive onslaught
didn’t stop there.
With a two-set lead in hand,
coach Mark Rosen was able to ease
his reserves into action in the final
frame, as freshmen Lizzie Sadilek
and Kayla Bair and junior Katarina
Glavinic all contributed. Sophomore
libero Jacqueline DiSanto also saw
considerable playing time in relief of
senior Jenna Lerg.
While many starters and key
players sat for long stretches of the
third set, Skjodt, who Rosen called
the “glue” of the team, remained
in throughout. Rosen described
her presence as crucial for lineup
consistency.
“We don’t want to have a new
player in there with a bunch of other
new players,” he said. “Because
then, it’s not like they get a chance
to acclimate to what the lineup
is like, so we try to sparingly put
those kids in, get them experience
with
veteran
kids,
with
the
experienced kids. Because that’s a
better way to learn, and they don’t
feel that pressure in having to do
everything.”
The Wolverines aren’t going to
dominate all their opponents the
way they did Valparaiso. Not while
competing in a Big Ten which
claims seven teams — including
Michigan — in the AVCA Top-25.
As such, there’s plenty of room for
improvement.
“I think our services could still
get better,” Jones said. “First-ball
contact, first serving and passing.”
Added Rosen: “We’re settling in
on what our top group is and what
our lineup is … (and) what our team
is looking like.”
But then again, if there’s ever a
good time to be patient, to ease up
on the concern, it’s right now.
School is just getting back into
swing. Conference play is over two
weeks away. The Wolverines still
haven’t dropped a set.
They’ll eventually have more
questions to answer, but they can
afford to take their time.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
“I’d never
really covered
anybody in my
life, honestly.”
“I think he did
well. He’s also a
young guy that
came in.”
Read more of this story online
at MichiganDaily.com
VOLLEYBALL