When Brandon Dawkins was a kid, playing Pop Warner, his friends used to make fun of him for listening — and dancing — to all of Michael Jackson’s hits.
About two hours before Arizona’s kickoff against Grambling State on Saturday night, Dawkins was alone at the 20-yard line, headphones in, warming up, throwing the ball. He did a little jig, too.
Whether he starts or not, Dawkins can usually be spotted dancing, laughing, joking with his teammates, even Solomon, his competition.
“What I’m doing is trying to get on my vibe and center myself because if I’m too serious or quiet,” Dawkins said before the season. “You know it’s bad.”
From nearly the same spot on the field, nearly five hours later, and on fourth down, Dawkins danced past three Grambling State defenders on the way to a 21-yard touchdown, his second of the day, the nail in the coffin for the upstart FCS program. Arizona won 31-21.
In between, a whole lot happened.
Earlier in the week, Solomon hurt his knee in practice, and his chances for playing against Grambling State were slim, at best. The coaches told Dawkins, accordingly.
"He had a little skip in his step," UA coach Rich Rodriguez said after the game. "He was pretty excited about it."
On Dawkins’ first pass of the the game, his pass attempt deflected off the hands of receiver Trey Griffey, nearly into a defender’s in what would have surely ended with a pick-six and put Arizona in a quick 14-0 hole.
They went into a 14-0 hole, anyway, and Dawkins didn’t exactly help the cause — Arizona’s first three drives ended with a punt, and twice a turnover on downs. Dawkins and his receivers weren’t on the same page for most of the first half, really, either, and Dawkins was outplayed by Grambling’s quarterback DeVante Kincade for most of that stretch.
It was a stretch that Kincade — actually a more highly touted quarterback than Dawkins out of high school, a four-star recruit who started his college career at Mississippi — completed 15 of his 19 pass attempts for two touchdowns, with solid footwork, mobility and precision passing against Arizona’s unsuspecting defense.
Dawkins was just 6 for 15 as Arizona’s offense stalled out, closing the half with just a field goal.
Dawkins felt he was "a little shaky too start, as everybody probably saw," he said, "but we just had to make a couple minor adjustments. Once we got that down, you saw what we could do, we started getting the ball rolling in the second half and played better than we did in the first half.
Dawkins flashed potential last year in relief of Solomon against Arizona State, but this game against Grambling was the first start of his college football career.
The reads were off, communication was poor and only three receivers even caught passes for the Wildcats in the first half.
If nothing else, Dawkins flashed athleticism that Solomon really hadn’t shown yet, particularly on a 40-yard gain in the second quarter where Dawkins kept the ball on a read option, broke multiple tackles.
That was the good, but at worst Dawkins appeared to still be learning the system, trying to grasp the intricacies, as Rodriguez indicated earlier this week. Even so, Dawkins always prepared as if he was the starter.
"I always pictured myself as the starter," Dawkins said. "No matter if they had me at the three or the four on the depth chart, I’m going to come out and however many reps I get in practice, I’m going to take them like I’m the one."
He played more like "the one" in the second half, when he started getting more comfortable. On his vibe.
He was vibing on the opening drive of the half, marching the Wildcats 70 yards down the field in nine plays in just two minutes and 47 seconds, capped by a two-yard scoring run by Dawkins.
After Arizona’s defense forced a turnover, the Wildcats failed to convert at the other end, turning the ball over on downs for the third time, and in Grambling territory.
Then the Wildcats uncharacteristically forced another turnover, and Dawkins capitalized with his best throw of the game, a beautifully thrown ball 34 yards into the air, landing into the army of Griffey in the end zone.
It gave Arizona their first lead of the game, and the Wildcats never looked back.
Dawkins finished leading Arizona in rushing yards with 89, and his final passing line looked OK, all things considered — he completed 15 of 29 passes for 223 and one touchdown and rushed 16 times for 97 yards and two scores.
"His competitiveness and ability to create is what I thought," Rodriguez said. "He’ll be the first to tell you: there’s a lot of things he can do better."
Arizona needed a valiant effort from a quarterback in his first ever start…to come back down multiple scores from a program better known for its marching band.
It was a Thriller, but not the good kind, like the classic Michael Jackson song. At least for Arizona.
Dawkins might have found his vibe in the second half, but there won’t be much dancing after this one.
