Louisville football: 5 players who stood out against North Carolina State
Javian Hawkins
Another stellar performance from Javian Hawkins put him over the 1000 rushing yard mark on the season. He’s the first running back to do that at Louisville since Bilal Powell in 2010. His 1,045 rushing yards on the season has him ranked 16th nationally in that category.
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣#GoCards pic.twitter.com/xm9rPxdtwX
— Louisville Football (@LouisvilleFB) November 17, 2019
Hawkins all year has been as successful as Louisville has needed him to be. On Saturday, they were able to pass the ball at a higher level than they have been most week. So Hawkins, even with a smaller workload, still ended up with 4.2 yards per carry.
Hawkins 1,000 rushing yard season is no accident and he hasn’t just beaten up on bad teams. There are four ACC running backs ranked in the top 20, here’s how they fared against national title contender Clemson vs. how Hawkins faired.
Top 4 ACC RBs total yards & YPG, and then what they had against Clemson
— Ben Whitehead (@thebenwhitehead) November 19, 2019
AJ Dillon (BC) - 1451 &145.1 (76)
Javian Hawkins (Lou) - 1045 & 104.5 (129)
Cam Akers (FSU) - 1042 & 104.2 (34)
David Bailey (BC) - 765 & 76.5 (16)
Only Hawkins had more per game than his season average
Javian’s ability to find five yards every time Louisville has needed it has added a dimension to this offense that hasn’t really been there this entire decade. Hawkins, out of nowhere, may be the best Louisville running back since Bilal Powell was drafted in 2011.