Is Arizona Wildcats QB Brandon Dawkins the most important recruit of the RichRod era?

By Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star

Brandon Dawkins’ football career can be summed up, strangely, with a story about Washington State’s quarterback Luke Falk.

Falk moved from Utah to California in 2011 to play high school football at Oaks Christian, a Los Angeles-area powerhouse.

Falk started the first two games that season before losing his job to Dawkins, then a sophomore. The dual-threat Dawkins was stellar that year, completing 66.3 percent of his passes, throwing for 33 touchdowns and guiding Oaks Christian to a 10-2 record. Falk bolted back to Logan, Utah, and eventually walked on at Wazzu.

Dawkins kept thriving and became an elite recruit. He eventually signed with Arizona, picking the Wildcats over offers from Notre Dame, Utah and North Carolina State.

Six years later, Falk is breaking records in Pullman. Dawkins is trying to save a UA program that’s spiraled downward in recent years. Falk is a finished product. Dawkins is a work in progress.

Falk is a hero. Dawkins may be vilified if he can’t rally the Wildcats.

“If people want to say want they want to say, that’s up to them. I can’t control that,” said Dawkins, who will lead Arizona into Saturday night’s game against Houston. “I’d rather it be me than anyone else. … I’d rather people put it all on me than anybody else.”

Dawkins has become the most important recruit of the Rich Rodriguez era, and may be the one player standing between the coach and on-campus regime change. Here’s why.

Since 2012, Arizona has signed 12 quarterbacks and brought in one transfer, Texas’ Connor Brewer.

Of that group, one (Josh Kern) converted to tight end. Anu Solomon, Javelle Allen, Khari McGee and Brewer left the program. Junior college transfers Jerrard Randall, Jesse Scroggins and B.J. Denker had varying levels of success, with Denker starting for most of the 2013 season. The four remaining quarterbacks — Rhett Rodriguez, K’Hari Lane, Khalil Tate and Dawkins — are on this year’s roster.

But it’s a player who never arrived, Braxton Burmeister, who stands out.

Arizona pursued Burmeister, a four-star recruit from San Diego, for nearly three years. Burmeister committed to Arizona as a high school sophomore and then backed out only to recommit again.

Just as he was about to enroll at UA in January, Burmeister changed his mind again. He’s now Oregon’s No. 2 quarterback.

Elite-level quarterbacks don’t grow on trees. Burmeister might be one. Dawkins, too.

“Well, everybody is looking for the same thing,” Rich Rodriguez said. “Sometimes guys will see potential and recruit that way. Most people look at, OK, what kind of production does he have and does he have the skill set to be successful at this level? I don’t look so much at this guy could be potentially in 3-4 years, I want a guy that can be ready to go pretty quick.”

Burmeister’s flip left Arizona scrambling to find another quarterback to fill the 2017 class. They settled on Lane, who had zero scholarship offers.

Arizona’s quarterback room now includes an 18-year old sophomore (Khalil Tate), two true freshmen whose only scholarship offer came from UA (Rodriguez and Lane) and a 26-year-old — Donavan Tate — who hadn’t played organized football in a decade.

Dawkins is in his fourth year in Arizona’s system.

It’s his time.

Rodriguez built a reputation for working magic with quarterbacks, turning perceived run-only players into bona fide college stars. Rodriguez did it with Pat White at West Virginia and Denard Robinson at Michigan, revitalized the career of Arizona’s Matt Scott and turned B.J. Denker from a skinny JC player into a college standout.

Anu Solomon was often solid as a redshirt freshman in 2014, setting a number of Arizona passing records in route to a 10-4 season and Fiesta Bowl bid. Solomon struggled in that year’s bowl loss to Boise State, taking a sack instead of throwing the ball away as time ran out. Rodriguez yanked Solomon in and out of the lineup over the next two years, partly due to injuries and partly due to performance. Solomon beat out Dawkins for the starting job last season before getting injured; he has since transferred to Baylor.

Dawkins took over from Solomon last season and hasn’t looked back since. So far, the results have been a mixed bag.

The quarterback completed just 53.8 percent of his passes, the lowest for Arizona’s starting quarterback in 13 years, but sparked an offense that led the Pac-12 in rushing. In Arizona’s last two games, the Wildcats’ 2016 finale against Arizona State and last week’s opener against NAU, Dawkins has attempted just 21 passes.

The Wildcats’ run-heavy attack likely won’t fly Saturday against Houston, which boasts one of the country’s best rush defenses.

For all his trouble completing passes, the 6-foot-3-inch, 210-pound Dawkins might have the most unique athletic profile of any quarterback in the stacked Pac-12.

He has prototypical size, speed and acceleration and long strides that make him difficult to bring down when he’s running.

Dawkins is, in fact, a special runner; he just does it a little too much.

Dawkins amassed a team-best 944 rushing yards, the fourth-best total (including running backs) in the conference. He was the only Pac-12 quarterback to rush for 100 yards on multiple occasions. He scored 10 touchdowns.

If he stays healthy this year, Dawkins should rush for more than 1,000 yards, and possibly even 15 touchdowns.

If he doesn’t improve as a passer, though, that won’t matter.

Since Dawkins’ sophomore season of high school, his completion percentage has dropped each year, from 66.3 percent to 61.5 to 60.3 to 53.8 percent. This year’s completion percentage — 53.8 percent — matches last season’s.

If Dawkins improves, Arizona might make a bowl game. He would return next season as arguably best signal-caller in the league; USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, Washington’s Jake Browning and Falk are all likely off to the NFL after this season.

If Dawkins doesn’t improve, if his completion percentage hovers below 55 percent and if he doesn’t master Arizona’s offense or improve his accuracy, changes will be made. At quarterback, and possibly at head coach.

No pressure.

“I just have to make sure I’m on point at all times,” Dawkins said.