Hawkins goes the extra mile to balance football, school

At 6:50 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, Daryle Hawkins was reclined on a padded table in the Ducks’ athletic treatment center, his hands clasped behind his head as he watched “SportsCenter.”

Exactly an hour earlier, the UO senior receiver’s alarm had buzzed, awakening him to a day, that over the course of 16 hours, would take Hawkins from a football practice in Eugene to a classroom in Portland; through fields of study ranging from 5th century Buddhist art, to computer assisted 3D routing, to the nuances of kickoff return protection.

For all the time that each and every Oregon football player puts into balancing athletics and academics, none has a schedule to rival that of Hawkins. The reserve receiver is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Product Design, an advanced degree program that requires him to be in Portland for a three-hour studio class three evenings per week.

Pursuing the major has caused Hawkins to miss football meetings in the evening, and make them up with his position coach early in the morning. Playing football has required him to watch class lectures filmed by a university staffer, then meet with professors on his own time.

“It’s definitely extraordinary,” said Jennie Leander, senior associate director of Oregon’s services for student-athletes. “And it has been for the past four years.”

- from a story about a day in the life of Daryle Hawkins, by Rob Moseley of GoDucks.com