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| Brandin Hawthorne |
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 214 lbs.
High school: Pahokee (FL) Pahokee
Position: Linebacker
Class: Senior
Jersey number: #7
Last year: I ranked Hawthorne #62 and said he would be a special teams contributor. He started five games at WILL, making 43 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 interception, and 1 pass breakup.
Lots of unexpected things happened last year for Hawthorne to leap to the forefront of the WILL linebacker depth chart. Brandon Herron had a great opening game and then hurt his quad. Marell Evans was ineligible after transferring from Hampton. And Hawthorne played better than he had thus far in his career. Despite being only 6'0" and 214 lbs., he held up fairly well and made some big plays for Michigan during his five starts. However, things seemed to go downhill with a subpar effort in the Michigan State game, and Hawthorne seemed to find himself in the doghouse from that point onward. Freshman Desmond Morgan grabbed the reins at WILL and started for the second half of the season.
Hawthorne played a little bit at middle linebacker this spring, too. He's probably too small to be a viable full-time option at MIKE, but he could be a situational backup or play in the nickel package. He made a very nice one-handed interception in the spring game, he's a hard hitter for his size, and he has good speed. Unfortunately for him, defensive coordinator Greg Mattison was still not impressed after the spring game and was harping on how Hawthorne needs to become more physical. This is the conundrum the coaches face. Should they play a coachable, traditional inside linebacker with perhaps less playmaking ability, such as Desmond Morgan or Joe Bolden? Or should they play a faster, less coachable guy like Hawthorne? From what I've seen out of this staff, they'll more often play the traditional guy with better technique. Hawthorne will still play on special teams and get some action as a backup, but I doubt he has much hope of reclaiming his WILL job.
Prediction: Backup inside linebacker, special teams contributor
"This is the conundrum the coaches face. Should they play a coachable, traditional inside linebacker with perhaps less playmaking ability, such as Desmond Morgan or Joe Bolden? Or should they play a faster, less coachable guy like Hawthorne? From what I've seen out of this staff, they'll more often play the traditional guy with better technique."
ReplyDeleteI think that's a good analysis. (Aside: I think Bo took that idea too far at times.) Hopefully soon they'll have a stable of coachable *and* talented players.
It's probably too early to tell with Ash, but the other Pahokee guys (Odoms and Vincent Smith) have, I think, been known as hard-working, coachable guys. Hawthorne seems like an outlier.
I'm starting to think that harping from Mattison means that he thinks you're good, on the threshold of the player he thinks you can be and that he wants to play you.
ReplyDeletePraise from Mattison means that someone else needs to get off his dead ass and be somebody.
Hawthorne seemed to be decent at both interior blitzing and zone pass drops last year; he certainly didn't deal with linemen and backs running downhill at him. That said, what do you think of the idea of inserting him as a nickle LB, replacing Morgan on passing downs because of his superior speed and athleticism?
ReplyDeleteThe conundrum can be mitigated by situational packages, like you're suggesting. I don't know how you stick with Morgan over Hawthorne in obvious passing downs.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to see if Hawthorne 'gets it' this year - now that he's not changing positions or coaches for the first time. I don't necessarily expect him to win the WIL job outright, but I think he'll be in the mix and get some significant snaps at LB. If not, he'll always have that fantastic ND game to remember. He can be a play-maker out there, and seems to have a high ceiling - but he sounds like he's unlikely to reach it. Too bad he didn't get to red-shirt.
ReplyDeleteFor a guy who hasn't played for Michigan in many years, Marrell Evans sure does get mentioned a lot on this blog. I think most of the talk last year about him playing a significant role was what Roanman talked about - getting other guys fired up. I think we could have had similar situations with Burzynski and, the now departed, Terrence Talbott this spring. Though Talbott's situation might have been more to it than that. Maybe it was a 'OK-show us what you got if you want to play that bad' situation...
Mattison has mentioned multiple times that the LB's need to get better at blitzing. That's probably a shortcoming of Demens and Morgan. Blitzing along with open-field play are likely a relative strength of Hawthorne, so he should have a role if he can get Mattison to warm up to him. Hawthore could make an effective nickel LB.
ReplyDeleteHawthorne's potential as a situational player is limited. The DL is going to need more LB help in run defense this season than last. Can't afford to have a guy the offense tries to run right at. In very obvious passing situations, LBs are pulled in favor DBs. When they do sub in one LB for another for pass defense, Cam Gordon is the first guy that comes to mind. Maybe Hawthorne could be the 2nd LB in nickel situations, but I think his playing time is more conditional on opponents. Against Alabama and MSU he's probably riding the pine, but against a spread-oriented team like ND or Purdue, maybe he rotates in frequently. It would seem that those schemes are more suitable to make use of his speed and minimize his size deficiency. Last year he seemed to be at his best against ND, Northwestern and Purdue (albeit in mop-up duty).
ReplyDeleteHis weaknesses seem to be in play recognition as much as size*. To me, that's a potential problem in pass defense too - unless he is specifically tasked with covering a man or blitzing.
*Perhaps that can be excused given the lack of consistency in what he's been asked to do, and by whom, but perhaps not - maybe that's just who he is.