As a rookie, Lavelle Hawkins experienced what many wide receivers go through during their first season in the league. Injuries and inconsistency was the name of Lavelle’s game in 2008, as his growing pains were mostly responsible for his measly seven receptions last year.
In 2009, with the departure of enigmatic veteran Brandon Jones, the time is now for “The Hawk” to soar to new heights and emerge as a valuable contributor in the Tennessee Titans’ passing game.
Is “The Hawk” up to the task?
During my visit to training camp last season, I was impressed with what I saw from Lavelle Hawkins. He was a guy with a colorful personality who was more than willing to mix it up with the veteran players.
In the preseason, Hawkins displayed his potential against the Oakland Raiders. In a nationally televised preseason game, “The Hawk” reeled in a 51-yard touchdown pass from Kerry Collins.
Unfortunately for the talented rookie, he later sprained his ankle in the game, and the injury eventually developed into a nagging ailment that would prevent him from contributing during the beginning of the regular season.
With his frustrating rookie experience over, Hawkins is poised to become a contributor in 2009. However, listening to the words of Mike Heimerdinger, nothing is promised to #87:
“I’m hoping that now that he’s been through the system and he knows what to do he won’t have to think – his talent comes out now. His talent never showed up last year because he was thinking about what to do, afraid to make a mistake. [I think he’s passed that], but we’ll find out in OTA’s. Hopefully his talent that we saw on tape from college comes out.”
As things currently stand, you can probably pencil in Justin Gage and Nate Washington as the team’s starters at WR. After those two is where things get a bit tricky.
Hawkins will compete with rookie Kenny Britt and veteran underachievers Paul Williams and Chris Davis for the #3 WR spot. Hawk could also face some additional competition if the team decides to reunite with former Titan Drew Bennett.
Hawk has the talent to emerge as Brandon Jones’ replacement. The question is: Will he turn potential into production in his second year?
What do you guys think? Will “The Hawk” step up in 2009?
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