Rusty Simmons, Chronicle Staff Writer
Before Lavelle Hawkins takes the field on Saturdays, he stops by a mirror. He makes sure his socks are right, his jersey is tucked in, his towel is aligned straight, his wristbands and gloves look sharp and his visor is clear. Then, he repeats the check three more times. "It all has to be right, because if you look good, you play good," Cal's junior receiver said. "It lets me know that I'm the man." Hawkins is a man seeking perfection in every part of his life, but it hasn't come easily on the college football field. After an All-America high school career, Hawkins made stops at LSU and City College of San Francisco before arriving in Berkeley last year. He showed signs of his ability with 18 catches for 171 yards, including an eight-reception, 71-yard effort against Washington State, but he disappeared in the next three games, catching only five balls for 20 yards. It got so bad that Hawkins didn't want to come out of the locker room for the second half of the Las Vegas Bowl. "I wasn't balling; I wasn't producing," the 5-foot-11, 181-pounder with 4.4 speed said. "If something goes wrong, I beat myself up. Things weren't going the way I thought they should go and I got angry, and that's no way to play."
Hawkins went home to Stockton during the offseason and was surprised by the responses of his family and friends. "I was embarrassed about how I played, but they were showing love," he said. "I decided I wasn't going to have another year like that." The renewed dedication showed almost immediately. "On this level, games are won on the practice field throughout the week, and he's grown to understand that," fellow receiver Robert Jordan said. "When he showed up this spring, he was paying attention to detail and there was no stopping him." Hawkins has 31 catches for 498 yards and is sixth in the conference with 62.2 receiving yards a game. "He's damn-near supernatural," Jordan said. "He's fast, strong, runs good routes and blocks. There's not much he can't do." UCLA got torched by Washington State's slot receivers and tight ends for 17 catches and 261 yards last week, but Hawkins, who usually lines up in the slot, isn't drooling about Saturday's matchup just yet. "You know they're not going to try to run that same defense against us," he said. "They're going to be fired up, and we have to be able to match that." Hawkins' remarks about UCLA probably would have been a startling contrast in the past. "He's grown quite a bit since he's been here," coach Jeff Tedford said. "High school success came so easy to him, so he thought he could come in here and let his athleticism carry him. He's learned a lot of lessons about guys being as fast as him and as good as him, and he continues to learn." It hasn't stopped Hawkins from thinking about perfection. His goal for next season is to complete the year without a dropped pass, which is probably impossible unless the ball is never thrown his way. "I don't think that way," he said. "I think I can catch anything, and I won't be satisfied until I do. Then, I probably won't stay satisfied."
Briefly: Quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who dominated San Francisco's Academic Athletic Association while being named Player of the Year last season and leading Balboa to consecutive Turkey Day Game berths, is making the transition to the collegiate game at UCLA. "When I first got here, there were just flashes going by me," he said, "but things are slowing down."
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