Oklahoma-Auburn Preview — One Big Thing: A Freshman Shall Lead Them

No big deal, just a true freshman quarterback with a patchwork offensive line and no receivers making his first career start on the road in the SEC. Michael Hawkins should be fine.

Oklahoma quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. / NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

AUBURN, AL — We all know what's next for Oklahoma.

A freshman shall lead them.

On Saturday, the No. 21-ranked Sooners hit the road for the first time this season, and an offense that ranks 119th in the nation in total yards , 101st in rushing, 111th in passing, 103rd in passing efficiency, 124th in third down conversions, 116th in yards per play and 131st in yards per completion — will start a true freshman at quarterback.

World, meet Michael Hawkins Jr.

“Mike will have his opportunity to run out there and be our guy and see where we're at and try to give us a kickstart,” head coach Brent Venables said.

OU is 3-1 on the season and 0-1 in Southeastern Conference play (still sounds kind of weird, doesn’t it?) — and Auburn (2-2, 0-1) is surely a team with troubles and a quarterback quandary of its own.

But the Tigers aren’t without their FIVE best receivers for Saturday like Hawkins is. 

OU’s wideout corps is so desolate that sophomore cornerback Jacobe Johnson — quite an accomplished pass catcher in high school — has been moved to receiver.

Leading receiver Deion Burks — essentially the team's best player on offense — fell on the football last week and on Thursday was ruled out of the Auburn game.

That, and a treacherous Jordan-Hare Stadium full of venomous fans eager to sink their fangs into a new conference blue blood coming into their parlor for the first time, is where Hawkins finds the starting line of his college football sojourn.

Jackson Arnold isn't injured, but he is out of the starting lineup, for now, after three backbreaking turnovers last week against Tennessee. 

“Made that announcement for lots of reasons,” Venables said. “Certainly didn’t want a decision like that to hang over anyone’s head.” 

Venables said the team will need its former starter and 5-star recruit this season — and he could conceivably get the call on Saturday down South.

But it was Hawkins last week who confidently threw caution to the wind and led this triage ward to two fourth-quarter touchdowns.

“I felt pretty comfortable,” he said. “Just getting those drives going and then finally getting points on the board and just capitalizing on all of it. Felt pretty comfortable.”

He made plays with his arm and with his legs, running and throwing for 154 yards and both bowling over and somersaulting over Tennessee defenders to get touchdowns (both scores were overturned by replay review).

Assuming Hawkins hasn’t had an emergency tonsillectomy or sprained his foot eating cereal or pulled his hamstring doing homework and is healthy enough to start on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT — don’t laugh, this OU injury bug has gotten weird enough to take down the kicker with a midweek appendectomy — he’ll be the first Oklahoma freshman to make his first career start on the road since 1984, when a 17-year-old local kid by the name of Troy Aikman filled in miserably for Danny Bradley (2-of-14 passing for 8 yards, three interceptions, one returned for a touchdown) and took a painful 28-11 loss at Kansas.

Oklahoma opened as a 3-point favorite, but the line is literally all over, from Auburn -1 to OU -2 1/2.

If things go according to plan — that is, if OU’s growing injury list doesn’t add a certain young QB, and if Hawkins doesn’t give Auburn the football repeatedly — then in two weeks, Hawkins will become the first true freshman ever to start at quarterback for the Sooners against Texas. 

That is, No. 1-ranked Texas.

And Hawkins will be asked to do all this behind a patchwork offensive line, with a makeshift receiver corps.

It doesn’t much harder than that. Welcome to the SEC, young man.