Louisville football: Javian Hawkins’ football is his “baby”

Louisville football running back Javian Hawkins loves the football.

There were plenty of surprising revelations for Louisville football in year one under head coach Scott Satterfield.

Perhaps the biggest surprise for the Cardinals was the emergence of redshirt freshman running Back Javian Hawkins. After topping the depth chart in fall camp, most still believed the starting running back spot would still go to Hassan Hall. However, Hawkins won the job and won the hearts of Louisville fans with his wrecking ball mentality and ridiculous breakaway speed.

Hawkins finished the season with 1,525 yards on the ground, which is more than any player in school history not named Lamar Jackson. He got into the endzone nine times in 2019 and finished the year averaging 5.8 yards per carry.

Probably the most impressive stat for Hawkins in 2019, however, was that in 268 touches, he had zero fumbles.

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Hawkins turns heads for Louisville football

Hawkins got a chance during his redshirt year to prove himself. During Bobby Petrino’s train wreck of a final season, a ton of players got opportunities to earn playing time for the Cards, including Hawkins, who utilized the new redshirt rules where players can participate in up to four games.

In a blowout loss to Georgia Tech, Hawkins was inserted and on his first touch of the game, fumbled the ball away on his own side of the field. Petrino never put him back in for the rest of the season.

Hawkins took notice of what it was like to be sidelined for his first season, and he worked hard to earn a spot as the starter in 2019.

“That’s my baby right there,” Hawkins told Brevard Sports Network on the importance of holding onto the ball. “Coach Eddie (Cocoa high school’s running backs coach) told me when I got to Cocoa, ‘that’s your girl, you don’t want nobody taking her, you don’t want nobody messing with her.’”

Hawkins went on to say that coach Satterfield tells him “The ball is the program. If you put the ball on the ground, you can’t play.”

After winning a state championship with Cocoa high school, Hawkins committed to Louisville as the lowest-rated player in the 2018 class. He was a bit of an afterthought in a recruiting class that was highlighted by some solid four-star players that ultimately transferred away from the program during the end of Petrino’s tenure or right after his departure.

Hawkins had the chance to go elsewhere and get a fresh start at a new school, but he stuck it out in Louisville, and it payed dividends.

”God put us all here to do something crazy,” he told Brevard Sports. “So, when the ball is in your court, you’ve to take advantage of it.”

In 2019, Hawkins took advantage, finishing with one of the best seasons by a running back in program history.

And as for what to expect the second act for Hawkins and Louisville football? “Just faster than we was, more than explosive than we was, a lot of fun plays, more exciting…”

”Hopefully, (if) we can get the stands filled, fill ‘em.”