Sacramento State linebacker points the way, sort of, as Hornets dream of Big Sky title
Marcus Hawkins and Mark Orr compared football battle wounds, scars and mangled digits after practice Wednesday.
Then they held their pinkies up high toward the Hornet Field stadium lights after practice, wiggling them amid laughter, like two girls showing off engagement rings. Hawkins is the senior linebacker for Sacramento State, the leading tackler for the No. 12-ranked team in the NCAA FCS rankings, and his position requires him to crash into ball-carriers with the gusto of someone crashing the party.
Orr is Sac State’s spirited athletic director. He jammed up his pinkie a generation ago when he was an All-Metro running back/cornerback at nearby Christian Brothers High School, before his Cal scholarship tour on defense. Orr delights in how his finger still looks off and zigs and zags, and it’ll pop if you listen carefully.
The finger-smash competition was won by Hawkins in quick order. His left pinkie is grossly swollen, with a mixture of pinkish and purplish coloring, like a holdover Halloween makeup job. Gauging by his grin, Hawkins is rather proud of it. Surgery? Whatever for? Torn ligaments are part of this sport.
“Oh, man, you’ve got me beat,” Orr conceded upon closer examination of Hawkins’ finger.
Hawkins hasn’t missed a game or a step. He led the Hornets in tackles in 2019, when they won the Big Sky Conference, and he lifted weights and stayed conditioned during the lost 2020 campaign when the pandemic wiped out sports. He graduated in the spring with a degree in communications studies and recreation administration. He returned for one final football season, so a torn-up finger wasn’t going to stall his enthusiasm.
Hawkins is the free spirit on an otherwise no-nonsense defense that is one of the best in the FCS, under coordinator Andy Thompson. He sealed the 28-21 Hornets win last month at then-No. 5 Montana with a late interception, a credit to his film study of what to expect. For all of his physical ability, what makes him a complete linebacker are his instincts, and his efforts have played a paramount role in Sac State’s 6-0 showing in the Big Sky, good for a first-place tie with Montana.
Sac State (7-2) is in the midst of its longest winning streak in 30 seasons. Life is good for the team’s top stopper, right on down to the pinkie.
“Got this in the Cal game (on Sept. 18), third play,” Hawkins said, eyeing his finger. “I had gloves on but my finger wound up laying over the rest of my hand. Popped it back in. Torn ligaments. Used a splint for awhile to keep it straight. I keep going. Never missed a game.”
The 5-foot-11, 225-pound Hawkins is from Fresno, where he grew up in a house of seven children. Rough and tumble was the preferred activity for this lot of kids, and bruises, gashes and trickles of blood were part of the package. Hawkins sustained every ache and pain, like getting dumped on his head. Maybe even from several feet up a tree.
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“As kids, we didn’t stay inside,” Hawkins said. “We were always outside doing something, getting into trouble.”
For all of his outdoor hobbies, Hawkins found his element in football, following in father’s footsteps. Eric Hawkins was a running back at San Jose State in the 1980s.
The younger Hawkins was a star at Sunnyside High in Fresno, a three-year varsity player who compiled 254 career tackles and rushed for 17 touchdowns as a fullback. He excelled for two seasons at Fresno City College, earning Valley League Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2018 with 11.5 sacks and 88 tackles.
Hawkins earned All-Big Sky honors at Sac State in 2019 when he led the team with 81 tackles. He had a season-high 10 stops against Fresno State, and then again against Eastern Washington, and then matched it against UC Davis, with the UCD victory crowning the Hornets as Big Sky champions.
This season, Hawkins has 63 tackles, four sacks, two interceptions and two forced fumbles. He is everywhere.
“He loves football, a tough kid, a fun kid who really studies film,” said Sac State coach Troy Taylor, who added that every team needs a grinder.
Sac State hosts Portland State on Saturday and closes the Big Sky schedule on Nov. 20 at UCD, where both teams shooting for Big Sky honors. Hawkins isn’t ready for any of this to end. He said he will pursue a career in special education and he plans to coach football. He will remind you that for all of his on-field fury, it’s OK to be silly away from the action. He wears a long ponytail and he is never far from his heavy silver necklace.
And he’ll show you the finger that might make you look in awe or look away mumbling, “aww!”
“I’m having so much fun,” Hawkins said. “Graduated early. We’re playing well as a team. I’m playing well individually. Going to get married soon.”
The bride-to-be, if we’re breaking news here, is Eva Morales, Hawkins’ sweetheart for seven years. Good thing for the linebacker is the wedding ring would fit nicely on the non-mangled finger next to the mangled one.