Hog Calls

1-for-2 deal helps Bielema, Bucknam

Eric Hawkins of Arkansas runs while competing in the 200 meters during the Tyson Invitational Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015, at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.
Eric Hawkins of Arkansas runs while competing in the 200 meters during the Tyson Invitational Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015, at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- In his quest to contend for an SEC football championship and advance nationally the Razorbacks, Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema has one Razorback ahead of the game.

Arkansas junior receiver Eric Hawkins has spent two springs competing for SEC runner-up teams, including a nationally No. 5 one that is currently contending for a national championship.

Following spring football in 2014 and 2015, Hawkins has run the leadoff leg on the 400-meter relay team for Coach Chris Bucknam's Razorbacks at the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Both relays scored four fifth-place points.

One difference, though. Last year Arkansas clocked in at 39.54.

Two weeks ago at the SEC Outdoors at Starkville, Miss., with Hawkins subbing for two-time NCAA Indoor 60-meter hurdles champion Omar McLeod in an effort to keep McLeod fresh for the 110-meter hurdles, Arkansas' 400 team clocked in at 39.12. It marked the second-fastest 400 in school history.

While still needing to survive this week's NCAA West Preliminary in Austin, Texas, to advance, Arkansas' 400 relay team became a recognized top-eight scoring threat for the NCAA Outdoor Championships that will be held June 10 and June 12 in Eugene, Ore.

"Even though our relay finished fifth in the conference, we rank sixth in the country," Bucknam said. "We went from being ranked 28th to ranked sixth. Eric Hawkins did a great job. With Hawkins and Jarrion [Lawson], we had the lead going into that third exchange. We were just a few tenths of a second away from winning it."

Sprints coach Doug Case initiated the Hawkins-for-McLeod substitution.

"I didn't think we'd skip a beat with Eric and he did the job," Case said. "He always does."

Bielema exults, and not just because he supports all Razorbacks sports. The better Hawkins runs track in the spring, the more Hawkins is apt to help the football team in the fall, Bielema believes.

"Without a doubt, success in one can lead to success in another," Bielema said.

Not running track in 2013 to get squared away academically after redshirting in football 2012 under John L. Smith, and not joining the 2014 indoor track team until January classes began, in 2015 Hawkins practiced indoors track from right after the football team's bowl victory through the beginning of spring football.

By far, Bielema and Hawkins concur, Hawkins posted his best and fastest football spring (6 catches for 145 yards and 1 touchdown in the first 2 spring scrimmages).

"A lot of my starts and my drive phases, it carried over to football," Hawkins said. "Being able to work with [track strength coach Matt Clark] with the fast muscle twitch, it helped football."

Bielema and Bucknam have tried annually tried -- and believe they eventually will -- combine to sign some premier football-track athletes.

"Coach Buck and myself have talked extensively and shared names and information and are working on a couple," Bielema said.

Should Hawkins ever excel at both, the Bielema-Bucknam tandem could present tangible dual-sport recruiting proof that their coaching works both ways.

Sports on 05/23/2015

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