North Texas Running Back Caleb Hawkins to Enter Transfer Portal

Not long after North Texas closed out its season with a high-scoring win in the New Mexico Bowl, news broke that Mean Green running back Caleb Hawkins will enter the transfer portal.

A Shawnee native, Hawkins was the New Mexico Bowl MVP after running for 198 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a receiving touchdown.

There’s plenty of reason to believe that Oklahoma State will be a suitor in Hawkins’ portal recruitment given OSU hired North Texas coach Eric Morris, North Texas running backs coach Patrick Cobbs and that Hawkins is an Oklahoma kid.

But there’s also reasons to believe that Hawkins will be a target for a lot of schools given the year he had.

He ran for 1,434 yards and 25 touchdowns as a true freshman and also caught another 32 passes for 370 yards and four more scores. He set an FBS freshman record for touchdowns and points scored in a season. Hawkins was a Second Team All-American, per Walter Camp. He was the American Conference’s Rookie of the Year and on the league’s First Team.

Hawkins played at North Rock Creek High in Shawnee, running for 1,602 yards and 28 touchdowns as a season. He looks like a man among boys in his high school film.

Given he played 3A ball, Hawkins didn’t get a lot of looks out of high school, with the 247Sports Composite ranking considering him the No. 2,032 player in the 2025 class — a ranking he has already outperformed quite mightily.

The transfer portal officially opens Friday, with Morris and his new staff having a lot of work to do given more than 40 Cowboys have hit the portal in the coaching transition. We’ll have to wait and see if Hawkins joins his former coach in Stillwater.