FootballScoop is proud to announce that Patrick Cobbs (North Texas) is the 2025 FootballScoop Running Backs Coach of the Year, presented by Teamworks as selected by prior winners.
One year ago at this time, all anyone in college football knew about Caleb Hawkins, in the unlikely event they knew of him at all, was that he was the No. 2,032 overall player and No. 154 running back in the class of 2025 out of North Rock Creek High School in Shawnee, Okla. His 247Sports profile didn't even have a photo.
One year later, Hawkins is known as the rushing touchdown leader in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
As a true freshman, Hawkins has totaled 200 carries for 1,236 yards with 23 touchdowns, the most of any player by three scores, heading into bowl season. Hawkins's 1,236 yards, totaled across 12 of UNT's 13 games to date, rank 13th nationally per game, 14th in total yardage, and first among all freshmen. In fact, Hawkins stands 201 yards ahead of the next freshman running back.
And at 6.18 yards per carry, Hawkins is tied for 39th among all runners nationally but third among players with at least 200 carries.
All the more impressive, Hawkins was not UNT's starting running back until midseason. He totaled only 13 carries across the Mean Green's first three games, and took over the starting role after a 16-carry, 140-yard, 2-touchdown performance in a 36-22 win over South Alabama, UNT's fifth game of the season. By November, Hawkins was UNT's bell cow. In November, Hawkins totaled:
-- 33 carries for 197 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-17 win over Navy
-- 27 carries for 189 yards and five touchdowns in a 53-24 demolition of UAB
-- 20 carries for 97 yards and three touchdowns in a 56-24 defeat of Rice
-- 25 carries for 186 yards and four touchdowns in a 52-25 blowout of Temple
With 105 carries for 669 yards and 16 touchdowns, Hawkins was college football's second-leading rusher in the month of November, and his 16 touchdowns would still place him among the top five nationally if they were the only scores he ran for all season long. Hawkins also caught 29 passes for 345 yards and three touchdowns across the season, tying him for fourth on the team in receptions.
Elsewhere, sophomore Makenzie McGill ran 75 times for 389 yards and five touchdowns, sophomore Kiefer Sibley added 45 rushes for 274 yards and five scores, freshman Ashton Gray toted 42 carries for 225 yards and three touchdowns, and junior Jayden Becks posted 21 attempts for 87 yards and two touchdowns. As a team, North Texas ranked 42nd nationally at 181.1 yards per game, placed 26th at 5.03 yards per carry, and their 45 rushing touchdowns led the nation by seven. The Mean Green set single-season school records for yards, points and touchdowns en route to an 11-2 regular season, an unprecedented rise to the AP Top 25 rankings, and their first American Championship appearance.
Hawkins was named the American's Offensive Rookie of the Year and was a unanimous selection to the All-American Conference First Team.
A member of the CBS Sports All-2010s Team for the Sun Belt Conference, Cobbs played for North Texas from 2001-05, where he led the nation in rushing in 2003 and left as the school's all-time leading rusher. After a 6-year NFL career, Cobbs entered coaching as the running backs coach at Denton Ryan High School in 2014 and joined his alma mater's staff in 2019. He was promoted to run game coordinator in 2024.
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by Teamworks are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Tommie Robinson [UTSA], Kevin Smith [Ole Miss], Max Thurmond [Jacksonville State], and Cobbs) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Previous winners of the Running Backs Coach of the Year award are Burton Burns (Alabama, 2008), Willie Taggart (Stanford, 2009), Jim Mastro (Nevada, 2010), Frank Wilson (LSU, 2011), Calvin Magee (Arizona, 2012), Jeff Lebby (Baylor, 2013), Bryan McClendon (Georgia, 2014), Lance Taylor (Stanford, 2015), Jeff Horton (San Diego State, 2016), Tony Elliott (Clemson, 2017), Tim Albin (Ohio, 2018), Jabbar Juluke (Louisiana, 2019), Robert Gillespie (North Carolina, 2020), William Peagler (Michigan State, 2021), Mike Hart (Michigan, 2022), Curtis Luper (Missouri, 2023), and James Montgomery (Boise State, 2024).
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