Caleb Hawkins has been impressive the past three weeks. The Oklahoma State running back joined a list of Cowboys with his great first quarter on Saturday.

Hawkins finished the first quarter of Saturday’s game against Kansas State with 97 yards and two touchdowns rushing, which allowed him to pass 1,000 yards rushing in his first season with the program. The sophomore played for North Texas last season.

The Owasso, Okla., native had 1,003 yards rushing by the end of the first quarter. He is Oklahoma State’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Ollie Gordon II in 2023.

Caleb Hawkins’ Impressive Game, Season

Hawkins and the Cowboys were facing a Wildcats defense that was No. 103 against the run, giving up 166 yards per game. Kansas State was also having trouble stopping the inside the run and Hawkins and the Cowboys’ offensive line capitalized quickly.

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Hawkins scored twice in the first quarter — one on a 21-yard touchdown run and one on a 37-yard touchdown run. The second required a replay to confirm that Hawkins broke the plane of the goal line as he fell to the ground. He also has a 31-yard run that set up the first touchdown of the game, a touchdown pass from quarterback Drew Mestemaker to wide receiver Justin Bowick.

Entering the game, the Cowboys were the only power conference team in the country with a Top 25 passer (Mestemaker), rusher (Hawkins) and receiver (Bowick) in terms of yards. Hawkins was also one of four FBS players and two power conference players (Duke's Nate Sheppard) who had hit 100 yards from scrimmage in seven games this season.

Hawkins cleared that bar in the first quarter, too, as he had one catch for 10 yards.

In the last three games leading up to the Kansas State showdown, Hawkins became a prime addition to the passing game. Because of that, he has 600 yards rushing and receiving in the last three games, with 378 yards rushing and 278 yards receiving. He had four combined scores in those three games.

Morris is now part of an illustrious group of backs that have rushed for more than 1,000 yards in a season, including program stalwarts like Thurman Thomas, Barry Sanders, Terry Miller, David Thompson, Tatum Bell, Kendall Hunter, Justice Hill and Ollie Gordon II.  

Now, Hawkins can start moving up the all-time list. He is the 47th player in Cowboys history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards. By reaching 1,003 rushing yards by the first quarter, he passed Rennie Childs for No. 46, who had 1,001 career rushing yards from 2013-16.

Four running backs have 4,000 or more career rushing yards in OSU history — Thomas (4,595), Miller (4,582), Thompson (4,318) and Hunter (4,181).