FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Dan Hawkins will win and will win big at Colorado. Those who doubt that are like those who walk to any destination looking not towards the horizon, not forward but at their shoes as they take each step.

Hawkins first two seasons at Colorado have produced an overall record of 8-17, far removed from his successful stints at Williamette and Boise State but considering the scrap heap he walked into and where the program lies today, anyone willing to look under the rubble can see growth.

The reason Hawkins will turn the Buffs into a winner again and eventually near the mountain top is commitment, the will to succeed at a high level, a game plan of how to do it, football acumen and rare people skills.

Those who rely solely on won-loss records to determine how a job is being done in what amounts to a business startup are merely uneducated or stockholders. Patience in football (when you have the right man and he has the right men rowing for him) is like patience in investing. In the long haul you can become rich if you keep making the right decisions along the way.

Bob Stoops turned Okalhoma around in what seemed like an instant but that was the exception to the rule. The Colorado job needed a whole lot more tender loving care and a change in culture, from the way the program was seen by the university, the town and recruits. It needed a huge infusion of financial support and it needed a pied piper to lead the team deep out of the woods of mediocrity. The Buffs are still marching, not where they wish to be but they certainly aren't what they were. From a program sliding at warp speed to one making the slow climb back to top 20, top 15 notoriety.

It's coming. 

 
Longhorns finding Charles replacement

Jamal Charles was one underrated back for Texas. A guy who could gash you for the back-breaking run. Extreme explosiveness. But he's gone now. Since Darrell Scott shocked the Horns by casting his lot with CU, who will replace Charles?

Read the Dallas Morning News and see a piece that lists three candidates. From what I see, I like the name Fozzy Whitaker to become that guy. Smallish now at 195 pounds but until the "next great" arrives in Austion, Whitaker is the guy I see become the next bell cow. 

Freeman needs to disprove doubters 

Josh Freeman was a star recruit for Kansas State after reneging on a verbal commitment to Nebraska. Then he was an enticing freshman, up-and-down sophomore and now he has people doubting his ability to be the program changer he was slated to be. Ridiculous. Growing pains, people. Freeman has the size, talent and is developing the skills. Everyone learns at a different pace.

Anyone remember USC golden boy Carson Palmer? Superb recruit who was a disappointment until he shined late in his college career.

Maybe Freeman doesn't reach those heights but he will, when it's all said and done, be one of the elite quarterbacks in the college game and play a lot of years of professional football.