Hawkins' most recent Press Luncheon before the Texas game has brought some answers to the forefront regarding a few important topics that Buffs' fans having been wanting to hear about for a while now:
On Freshman RB Darrell Scott Being 100% Healthy-"I think he's very close to that. How he rates that, I don't know exactly but I think he's very close to that. We still have a brace on him, our doctors want to play it safe and just get that added insurance there."
Finally some confirmation from coach that Darrell Scott has been nursing a knee injury for most of the season. My question is why have the Buffs been pushing the young freshman sporadically in the game risking further injury for a measly ten carries a game? I still think there is something that we don't know regarding the status of Scott.
On Injuries To the Offensive Line and Injury-ridden Seasons-"I just went through two of them. We're playing with five and seven guys to begin with, so that's the nature of it. Sometimes you get hit that way, but again, that's life. The beauty of this whole thing is that when things don't always go your way, it's not that you like it and it's not as easy as you want, but that's football, that's life. There's a certain amount of wisdom and knowledge and experience that comes through all of that that I think is really quintessential to anybody's existence, just figuring the whole thing out; life's not easy. We've got a lot more guys than we have had the past two years. If this would have happened in ‘06 or ‘07, you'd be playing offensive guard. So we're doing okay and our guys are picking up the pieces."
Hawkins always finds a way to throw some comedy where it is needed but the injuries on the offensive line is no laughing matter. Let's hope the depth, however young it may be, can yield some strong play. Either way, if Miller and Tuioti-Mariner can get a medical hardship red shirt, it would be huge in solidifying this line for the next 3 - 5 years.
Coach Hawkins on Texas:
On Texas In General-"They've got great personnel and great schemes with great players. I think the other side of it too is that they're getting their edge a little bit. Maybe it's helped them where people haven't been looking at them necessarily; they've been looking at other teams and kind of ignoring the Longhorns. Clearly Colt (McCoy) is a Heisman type player and they've got great personnel on their team, so they're clearly one of the better teams in the country right now, there's no question."
On Texas Quarterback Colt McCoy-"I think he's much more assertive. I think he's playing with a lot of confidence; he's been very efficient with the ball. That being said, I think he's probably healthier than he's been in a while. I know he's been beat up in seasons before, so I think that's helped him. His team is playing with a lot of confidence as well, and you can see it in his play; he just looks much more assertive."
On Matching Up Individually Against Texas-"It's hard, it's very hard; there's only so much you can do. You have to mix things up, you have to be able to run the football and be able to have a package that is able keep them off balance to some degree, if you possibly can. At the end of the day it comes down to man-on-man battles, to some degree. That will be part of the realities that we'll face on Saturday."
Here is the entire question and answer session from Coach Hawk's luncheon.