NORMAN – When Brent Venables made the decision to replace quarterback Jackson Arnold with true freshman Micahel Hawkins Jr., he kept circling back to one major issue – turnovers. 

“The turnovers and where they were at were really a real issue, obviously,” Venables said ahead of the Auburn game when identifying what went wrong with Arnold in the lineup against Tennessee. 

Throughout the spring and fall, every indication from Venables was that Hawkins was doing a great job of both learning the offense and making quick, smart decisions on the practice field. 

Through 10 quarters of football, Hawkins has delivered on protecting the ball in the passing game. 

He’s thrown no interceptions, but not only that, he hasn’t really come close to put the ball in harm’s way through the air. Hawkins hasn’t had to rely on the good fortune of a defensive back dropping an interception, as the ball either ends up in the hands of an OU receiver or safely out of bounds after making the decision to live to fight another down. 

Taking care of the football is always a good thing, but Venables said Hawkins still has to take the opportunities in front of him when they reveal themselves throughout a game. 

“We had plenty of opportunities in the first drive of the game,” Venables said on Tuesday. “After getting the first down, we’re open, we’re behind the defender and we just overthrow it. We don’t catch it in the end zone. We attack vertically. There’s always a pros and cons with that, too. You want to try to stay on time and stay on schedule and stay ahead of the chains. So when you take shots down the field, you like your matchup, you like your coverage, you like where you’re at on the field, but you’ve got to live and die with that, too.

“… And then our third drive, we get things going there, and we get three first downs but we miss some opportunities  within the drive. There’s plenty of opportunities, but we got a slant rout open on 3rd and 7, we go to hit him. Again, well-designed play, and it’s going to be tight coverage, but we’ve got to make those plays.”

Hawkins finished the game 19-for-30 through the air for 148 yards. He was under duress essentially the entire contest, as he was sacked five times. 

But there were a few moments late where even a turnover might have been more productive than just throwing the ball away. 

Down 27-3 in the fourth quarter, Hawkins threw the ball away on fourth-and-3. Despite having no obvious places to throw the football, the offense doesn’t have a chance to convert if the ball isn’t kept in play. 

Hawkins again was unable to make anything happen on the final play of the game, where he threw the ball out the back of the end zone as time expired. 

The offensive issues don’t rest on the shoulders of the true freshman – far from it. 

But there are chances to be more aggressive with the football, and that’s the next step Hawkins will have to take in his development as he gets more comfortable and makes just his third career start against South Carolina on Saturday (11:45 a.m., SEC Network).

The coaching staff will continue to work with him on exactly when to try and make a big-time throw as well to balance pushing the ball further downfield without being reckless. 

“The second half, he had a couple of really nice throws,” Venables said. “Over-the-middle type coverage, bang-bang type plays. Didn’t happen the first half early. There’s times you don’t trust it. That’s just part of the maturation. You don’t want that. You go back, you freeze the picture, show ‘em what’s there. You develop that for practice and the confidence that comes with it.  Everybody’s gotta be on the same page. And again, you go back, you show ‘em the ones that were good and then you say, here’s the ones that were there. You match ‘em up with maybe what we did in practice.

“… So you try to show the players that you do that to create affirmation, that you’re being shown the right things. You gotta execute the things that you know are gonna be successful. When you get on the field with a call, you’re in a good position to be successful.”

Hawkins will be the first to say he can make improvements, too. He was quick to identify areas where he can be better in the immediate aftermath of the loss to Texas. 

“I just could’ve came out a little harder,” he said on Saturday. “Saw little things I could’ve fixed on the sideline after plays. Got to do better, could’ve gotten through it better and just leading my team in a better way. The biggest thing for me is just coming back harder, my mindset of working and leading my team when things go left.”

Growing pains are to be expected with a true freshman quarterback in the SEC, and Venables is looking forward to Hawkins getting right back on the horse at practice this week as he works to improve. 

“As I go back, were there opportunities there? Were guys wide open? Yeah, several times wide open,” Venables said. “Is the protection there when they were wide open? Yeah, it sure was. Do we got to pull the trigger? Yeah, we do

“… You try to build the confidence, continuity, cohesion, the timing, all of those things. By the end, we’re gonna go right back at it again. You hit it head-on as much as anything.”