Will No. 17 Kansas face a two-headed Colorado QB?

 

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -The Colorado Buffaloes are talking about pulling a switcheroo on their quarterback swap and at least making it a job-share position.
Sophomore Tyler Hansen burned another redshirt year at midseason because of Cody Hawkins’ continued poor play, but he might have to share the position with coach Dan Hawkins’ son once again.
Dan Hawkins hinted this week that Cody might still get some playing time after being benched at Texas last week in favor of Hansen.
So, Hansen might be looking over his shoulder Saturday night when No. 17 Kansas visits Folsom Field.
“It is kind of tough,” Hansen said. “I just have to deal with it.”
Hansen said he’s been driven since August to prove he should have won the starting job in the first place.
‘ Hansen said. “After that, I was a little disappointed that they chose Cody, so I wanted to prove people wrong.”
Hansen was summoned from the sideline in Austin following Cody Hawkins’ ninth interception this season, which was returned 92 yards for a touchdown that squelched the Buffaloes’ upset bid of the then-second-ranked ‘Horns.
Afterward, Buffs first-year offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau insisted Hansen was now the permanent starter. He said it wasn’t wise to do like the team did a year ago, when Hansen and Hawkins split snaps over the second half of the season.
“Tyler is our quarterback,” Kiesau said. “I don’t want to go back-and-forth and be wishy-washy.”
Dan Hawkins seemed to concur, saying last weekend that Hansen had earned his opportunity and paid his dues: “We’re going to ride with him.”
But 72 hours later, the coach seemed to be waffling.
He suggested at his weekly news conference that his son was “still going to have a role and I think there’s a very good chance that you’ll see both of them” starting when the Buffaloes (1-4, 0-1 Big 12) face the Jayhawks (5-0, 1-0).
“They will both be ready to go,” he said.
Hansen demurred when asked if he was presented with this possibly when he was approached to give up his redshirt year for the second straight season.
‘m starting right now. I’m looking like I’m going to perform. … Right now, I want it to be that I’m not sharing any time, but if that’s what they want and if that’s what the team needs, so be it.”
There’s always the possibility that Dan Hawkins is playing a little bit of gamesmanship with the Jayhawks. He did, after all, keep saying he had a quarterback competition at camp that was too close to call when in reality he had decided early on that his son was the starter, something he kept secret until the opener.
Not that it mattered in a blowout loss to rival Colorado State at home.
Either way, bloggers and frustrated fans were grumbling anew this week about the coach and his son. Under Dan Hawkins, the Buffaloes are 14-28 since 2006.
Hansen is taller and much more mobile than the diminutive Cody Hawkins, who knows the offense better.
“We know that Tyler Hansen is similar in the passing game to Cody Hawkins in a lot of ways,” Jayhawks coach Mark Mangino said. “Obviously, he is a little bit faster. Maybe a little quicker, better athlete, which brings a new dimension to their offense in running.”
Dan Hawkins said he won’t radically alter the plan with Hansen under center.
“Not a whole bunch. Tyler can run a little bit better than Cody. But it’s not like you want to make him the running back,” the Buffaloes coach said. “We’re not going to structurally be any different.”
The Jayhawks are preparing for the Buffs’ system as much as their quarterback, so it doesn’t really make much difference to them who’s going to be calling the plays.
“The quarterback play may be slightly different, but the play calling will be exactly the same, most likely,” Kansas safety Darrell Stuckey said.
After all, it’s easier to switch passers midseason than styles.
“I’m pretty sure they’re going to do a lot of the same things they did with the other quarterback,” Kansas cornerback Justin Thornton said.