Brad Hawkins, Jr. (image via Scout)
Camden (NJ) Camden wide receiver Brad Hawkins, Jr. signed with Michigan in February of 2016, but he won’t be playing at Michigan this season. Rumors had been going around for months, but they became official today. Instead of playing at Michigan this year, he will enroll at Suffield Academy in Connecticut for a year of prep school. In case you’re wondering how prep school works, it’s basically an extra year of high school. That means Hawkins will have five years to play four starting in 2017, assuming he fulfills all the necessary requirements for NCAA eligibility.
Hawkins committed to Michigan in June of 2015 over offers from Auburn, Florida, Miami, Notre Dame, and Ohio State, among others. He was a 247 Composite 4-star, the #55 wide receiver, and #294 overall. He and teammate/fellow signee Ron Johnson, Jr. were chosen to participate in the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl. At 6’1″ and 202 lbs. with a slow-ish forty time around a 4.7, many compared him to former Michigan receiver Jason Avant, while others thought he would play safety. I gave him a TTB Rating of 65 by the time the cycle was over (LINK).
Michigan recruited a lot of receivers in 2016, so this departure should not affect the team much on offense. However, the Wolverines are fairly thin at safety, and his presence could have provided depth on that side of the ball.
Michigan is down to 85 scholarships for the 2016 season (LINK), and that includes former walk-ons Kenny Allen and Ryan Glasgow. If no other departures occur, those two guys can get scholarships. Or there would be potential for Michigan to accept a transfer, though I have not heard of any possibilities on that front.
Going forward, it sounds like Hawkins wants to be a Wolverine, and Michigan recruited him pretty hard. It seems like there would still be interest remaining. But in the past, Michigan commits who have taken prep years have generally not ended up playing or contributing much at Michigan. Based on that, I do not expect Hawkins to enroll at Michigan in the future, but obviously that’s just guesswork at this point since nobody really knows.
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Bummer, but one more spot open for next year. I also trust Thunder’s evals more than anyone else’s, so let’s hope we can get even better athlete for his spot going forward.
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Thanks for the compliment. And, for example, if Michigan gets Nico Collins AND Donovan Peoples-Jones in 2017 instead of just, say, Donovan Peoples-Jones, then I think Michigan fans would be happy with that trade. If you have to resort to poaching a receiver from CMU or something, then maybe you wish for Hawkins to get back in the fold. But Harbaugh seems to be recruiting at a pretty high level.
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Only if we can steal Nico Collins from Alabama on top of DPJ!!
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Agree, while you always want to see your entire recruiting class at least enroll Hawkins is one of the players I think we can most afford to lose. The only real downside here is safety depth, Hill and Thomas will start, Kinnel is next in, and beyond that its a huge question mark. I’d assume Husdon plays — he is a good fit for Jabrill Peppers SAM role as well though. Mitchell might be a good candidate to switch over — but completely unproven. I don’t know what is a bigger concern right now, the 4th safety or the 7th offensive lineman, but I think if we fall short of expectations this season, it will be one of those positions.
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