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Hawkins' Class is Full? So What, He Adds More Players

Feb 6, 2007 – 8:15 PM
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RJ Schaer

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It's called gray-shirting and if a player's not going to get on the field their freshman year anyway, it's a great way to give them more time to mature before teeing it up in Division One football. Hawkins has several gray-shirts coming in this year, they'll enroll in January instead of at the beginning of the year, and their scholarship will count against next year's class. The theory is that some of the players who sign on February 7th won't cut it academically or may not be here by next January when the gray-shirt player shows up. By then, the scholarship will be opened up to a new player, and the gray-shirt player can take that spot.

It's so prevalent that Hawkins was out recruiting last week, even though he reportedly already had 28 verbal commits. He offered Chaz Servino from New Jersey but Servino chose to go to Syracuse instead just yesterday. Hawkins will also welcomed grayshirt Jonathan Hawkins to the team last month. A cornerback, Hawkins was offered a grayshirt spot last year, accepted, and is now on campus and will be ready for the spring. Hawkins is the son of former ABA star Joe Caldwell.
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