East-West Prospect Profile: Terry Hawthorne
January 24th, 2013
Joe spoke with five prospects last week at the East-West Shrine practices and game that could be targets of the Bucs, three cornerbacks, one safety and one linebacker. The Bucs have a pattern for prospects: multiple years as a starter, played for a big-time program or conference, and served as a team captain. The Bucs rarely deviate from this pattern. Some have met all three qualifications for a Bucs draftee; some have not.
Name: Terry Hawthorne
School: Illinois
Position: Cornerback
Size: 6-1, 193
Started: Three years
Captain: Yes.
Have Bucs representatives spoken to him?: Yes.
Background: A physical corner with good size, who also returns kicks, Hawthorne was impressive to Joe at practices in that when he played close to the line, receivers often found themselves on the ground before they could start their routes, which in Joe’s eyes is the best cornerback defense: put the receiver on the ground. “I am pretty big, aggressive corner that loves to get up there and I get a chance to get my hands on you at the line, it will be a busted route for you,” Hawthorne said.
Sales pitch to Bucs rock star general manager Mark Dominik: “I am a guy with great character and a guy with a great passion for the game and just love to get out there and help out my teammates.”
Profile: Hawthorne comes from Bucs front seven coach Bryan Cox’s hometown, East St. Louis, Ill., which if anyone has ever been there, knows that the goal isn’t bonding with expatriates, but to get the hell out. Just doing that is impressive. Hawthorne was hurt much of his junior year after drilling a Wisconsin ballcarrier, missed a game and probably wasn’t the same since. In 44 career games and 26 starts for the Fighting Illini, Hawthorne had 163 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, a sack, six interceptions and two pick-sixes. Probably had his best game this season against undefeated Ohio State when Hawthorne had 10 tackles, including career-highs in solos (nine) and tackles for loss (two), recorded his first career sack and had a career-best six kickoff returns for a career-high 158 yards, including a career-long 45-yarder. Hawthorne also played some nickel and his a self-professed filmroom junkie.
Below are some highlights of Hawthorne against Ohio State this year. Joe likes how Hawthorne can shed blocks.
January 25th, 2013 at 12:29 am
hey joes,
i haven’t said it yet, but thanks for these profiles. they are interesting reads.
January 25th, 2013 at 12:42 am
@Joe
Great player profile.
Watch the video and saw that he is a really good tackler. He player 5-10 yards off facing the QB so you can’t really see his backpedal much or his bump and run in man . Physical CB and great at run support I like him.
January 25th, 2013 at 12:43 am
Lurker, Sneady, thanks a bunch for the kind words.
January 25th, 2013 at 12:48 am
Great job with these profiles…I have family that goes to U of Ill so I’ve always kept up with their team. Im glad you did a profile on Hawthorne. He’s a hell of a player and when you hear him in interviews you can tell he has his head on straight. Like you said, hes a big corner and team leader but the thing I like the most is his instinctive aggressiveness. He reads the field well and knows when to attack…I’d love to see this guy as a Buc. He wouldnt disappoint.
January 25th, 2013 at 12:52 am
I got to be honest, after watching the video he looks like just another average CB. out of the 20 or more plays that where shown in the video he only made 2 or 3 good plays. thats not someone who stands out to me. Next.
January 25th, 2013 at 1:32 am
Andrew he made a couple big plays, but the thing that stood out was that he pretty much shut his side of the field down. We didn’t see all play and I don’t know anything about him, I didn’t see the qb challenging him either. Anyway, thanks Joes. Can’t wait for the next prospect.
January 25th, 2013 at 6:01 am
A sure tackler that’s always good.
Didn’t really get to see much of the physicality press wise
January 25th, 2013 at 6:43 am
@ Joe. ……… This has become the place to come to locally for Bucs Draft news/talk. No one on the radio can or wants to do the dirty work and find out about these player. (Lazy talk show hosts who read off of Mel Kiper’s Notes…PISS ME OFF…and call themselves “The Draft Guru”) ……smh
January 25th, 2013 at 8:27 am
Joe,
Yes I completely agree with the other comments above, your top notch reporting of future prospects is good stuff. The videos are also a great touch. Please keep them coming. The volume of insightful articles you guys put out is a testament to your work effort in wanting to keep readers returning to your site. Thanks you.
January 25th, 2013 at 8:30 am
Thanks guys for the kind words. Glad you like the profiles.
January 25th, 2013 at 8:55 am
Video shows he’s good at stopping run and a decent tackler. We need a cover corner so I’m not impressed at least the video doesn’t show how he is in this area which we need.
January 25th, 2013 at 9:15 am
He’s been on my radar too. Probably a late rounder that can be well spent.
I’m also loving these profiles. Can you do one on the MVP of that game, Devin Taylor? He’s probably not high on your list as a DE, but he’s Clowney’s “opposite” that just doesnt get much hype. Thanks for the profiles.
January 25th, 2013 at 9:20 am
Hard to tell from this video alone. Based on it though, he has poor tackling technique a lot of times and doesn’t seem overly quick.
Appeared average that gets by on size.
Again, just one video.
January 25th, 2013 at 10:15 am
We need two corners that can COVER well, not TACKLE well ( obviously every player on D needs to know how to tackle correctly ) but still our problems were covering WR’S and TE’S last year, they were wide open many times and we need a shutdown CB and another that has solid coverage.
January 30th, 2013 at 7:53 am
Having seen this young man play over the last three seasons at Illinois , I can say that he is very seldom challenged and his side of the field is secure. That’s because of his lockdown ability and aggressiveness to blow routes up at the start. Btw .. Did I mention that he’s a great tackler which would be good in run support.