Caleb Hawkins Is Unique Among Eric Morris RBs but the Coach Hopes to Shrink His Workload This Fall

STILLWATER — Eric Morris has produced the No. 1 offense in the nation three times across only 13 seasons as either an offensive coordinator or head coach calling the offense.

​At least 12 of those seasons, Morris coached an offense that ranked 16th or better.

​But make no mistake, running back Caleb Hawkins is not simply a product of the system. In many ways, he breaks it.

​Ignoring last season and 2020 (fewer games), Morris’ No. 1 running back averages 147 carries per season. That’s 84 carries fewer than Hawkins finished with last season (231).

​Only former NFL running back DeAndre Washington finished with more, carrying the ball 233 times for Texas Tech in 2015 while playing alongside Patrick Mahomes.

​Every other back under Morris has fallen short of 200 carries. In fact, his other top backs have finished with 188, 177, 150 and 144 or fewer carries, so the drop in workload comes quickly.

​That gap between Hawkins and the rest looks a lot larger if Morris knew what he had in the freshman last August. Had he been the starter from the beginning, even Washington’s numbers would fall below him.

​“Early last year, we didn’t know how much he’s playing,” Morris said on Saturday. “So, we were on a program, see what he was at after four games.”

​Hawkins played 31 total snaps in his first two games, putting him behind two other UNT backs. He hit double-digit carries for the first time in his third game at Army, which went to overtime. He still finished second on the team in carries and running back snaps in that game.

​Then came his fourth game, when he rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns while also catching two passes for 78 yards and a third score against South Alabama.

​It would be hard to imagine the UNT coaching staff even discussing redshirting him after that one, especially considering he took the starting role for the remainder of the season.

​This fall, there’s no question that Hawkins will be both a starter and a workhorse for the Cowboys. At first glance, that puts the sophomore running back on pace for something like 250 carries this year, but in this case Morris is hoping to fix something before it breaks.

​“I thought there were times we probably put a little bit too much on him, to be honest with you,” Morris said. “It came back, he got hurt the first drive of the conference championship game, and it changed the outlook of what was going on.”

Hawkins’ total touches (carries and receptions) exceeded 25 four times in the regular season, highlighted by a season-high 36 touches against Navy on Nov. 1. From Oct. 18 through Nov. 28, Hawkins touched the ball 155 times across six games.

All of that caught up to UNT when Hawkins fumbled the ball, for only the second time that season, on the second drive of the American Conference Championship game. That game served as a de facto play-in game for the College Football Playoff.

“It wasn’t smart for me (giving him that workload), and then the second drive of the game, I leave him in cause he’s as tough as anybody,” Morris said. “He’s never going to tell you he can’t go. That’s just what type of kid he is, which I respect that. He didn’t fumble all year, and then he’s carrying the ball in a hurt arm and fumbles second drive of the game and ends up spiraling a little bit.”

No one will challenge Hawkins for top billing this season, but North Texas’ No. 2 back finished the season with 161 fewer carries. Morris made it clear on Saturday that he would like for one of the other guys to step up so they can shrink that gap a bit this fall.

“His running style, they only have so many carries in him,” Morris said. “Like we want to have a rotation and we want to be able to have some of these guys kind of take the workload off of him at times.”