Arizona quarterback Brandon Dawkins runs in a third-quarter touchdown in the Wildcats' win over UTEP at the Sun Bowl in El Paso. Photo by Brian Kanof, for the Arizona Daily Star
Quarterback Brandon Dawkins seemed different last week to just about everyone in the Arizona Wildcats football program … except himself.
More serious? Nope. More focused? Nah.
Dawkins insists he’s always serious and focused. He just doesn’t always show it. His public persona is positive and playful. Inside lies a ruthless competitor.
Coming off a career-best performance at UTEP – six total touchdowns and an 85.7 percent completion rate – Dawkins met the media this week in advance of Arizona’s Pac-12 opener against Utah on Friday night.
Dawkins discussed multiple topics, including his approach and what it’s like to play for Rich Rodriguez. Here’s a portion of that conversation:
On what felt different entering the UTEP game: “Nothing really felt different. Just the result was different. We executed a lot better. Taking the easy things that we could’ve had, should’ve had in prior weeks.”
On his supposedly more serious demeanor before and during the game: “It’s just kind of what happened. I’m never not taking it serious. It’s a strange way to look at it to say I was taking it more serious. At my position, you can’t not take it serious and be able to execute or even play at all. You can’t go half-speed at quarterback. You can jog a route. You can’t catch the (snap) and linger back there. You’ll get your head ripped off.
“Having a not-so-good week (against Houston), I’m the biggest critic of myself. I don’t need to look and read what everybody’s writing about it. I know how I played, and I know how it went. It just kind of pushed me to work that much harder than I’m already working.”
On whether practices are tougher than games under Rodriguez: “I always try to make it tough on myself. I always take practice like it’s a game. You never want to go out there on a Friday or Saturday and turn it all the way on finally. You want to be already ready to do that. Practices, for me, are more mental, dealing with the dude up there (Rodriguez). Just trying to get on the same page as him. Bumping heads, having conflicting ideas on things but trying to see the same things he’s seeing and understand that.”
On TV broadcasts showing Rodriguez’s sideline rants: “TV, that’s nothing. Practice is a little bit more. He can stop the clock and really get on you if he wants to. In a game, he can’t really do that. He can call a timeout if he wants to, but he’s smarter than that.”
On starting Pac-12 play: “Obviously, conference means more. But every game means something. I don’t care if we’re playing Pima Community College in our first game. I want to come out with a win. Every game means something to us. Pac-12 obviously means a lot more. It doesn’t really change anybody’s outlook. Nobody’s going to be trying harder because it’s Pac-12 now. Everybody’s going to be giving a full effort.”
