CHAPEL HILL — RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeau and Ian Jackson each took turns in front of the cameras inside the Dean E. Smith Center.
While three of UNC basketball’s well-known guards answered questions about the 2024-25 Tar Heels, Russell Hawkins stood alone on Roy Williams Court with a beaming smile.
It’s still hard for Hawkins, a Charlotte native who went from the Tar Heels’ JV team last year to joining Hubert Davis’ varsity squad this season, to wrap his mind being one of 15 players on UNC’s roster.
“Honestly, I think about it every day. I don’t know if I’ll ever get past the welcome-to-Carolina moments,” Hawkins said during the Tar Heels’ annual media day in October.
“Sometimes, I come in here and I shoot, and I sit down and just look around like, wow, I can’t believe I’m here. I look around and it’s greatness. These championships, these great players, these names up here (in the rafters), I’m a part of it now. It’s really surreal. … I’m just happy to have an opportunity to play and give (my parents) seats.”
Happy to be a part of it? Yes. But it wasn’t a handout. Hawkins, 20, plays an active role in helping the Tar Heels get the most out of their practices, weight room workouts and film sessions.
Hawkins isn’t in this position without hard work. Just like the other 14 players around him, Hawkins earned his spot.
From Mallard Creek to UNC JV basketball tryouts
The NCAA doesn’t track junior varsity teams, but UNC is the only ACC basketball program with a JV squad.
What began as a freshman team, when NCAA rules prohibited them from playing varsity sports, turned into a JV program under the late Dean Smith.
UNC offers regular students the opportunity to be on the JV team for two seasons and the potential to become varsity walk-ons. Former UNC coach Roy Williams spent eight of his seasons on Smith’s staff as the UNC JV coach. Hubert Davis was the JV coach for seven seasons.
“It’s super unique. Just having a JV team was crazy in itself. Doing some research, I found out that most colleges as prestigious as UNC do not have a JV team,” Hawkins said.
“Some of them used to back in the day, but Carolina was one of the only ones to keep it around. For me to just be able to get on this team and for Coach Davis to want me to come up, it was just amazing.”
After playing high school basketball at Mallard Creek in Charlotte, Hawkins had several Division III opportunities as a 6-foot-1, 175-pound point guard. But his mother, father and sister attended UNC, and he wanted to follow family tradition.
“I know I’m not the first one, but I came in a regular student as a freshman. I wanted to keep playing and my dad let me know there was a JV team, so I was preparing for it,” Hawkins said.
“I knew it was gonna be difficult to make the team. It’s a big school and I was assuming it was a lot of people that play basketball.”
Hawkins found out there would be three days of tryouts, but he missed the first two workouts because of class. When UNC added a fourth day, Hawkins was given an extra opportunity to show his skills.
“I ended up getting here when there was only 20 people left, so I was kind of fortunate when it came to being seen,” Hawkins said.
“After they extended the tryouts to another day, they sent me a text that said, ‘This is the group chat for the team.’ I was in there, so I was good. … I was ecstatic. For me, everybody else had four days and I had two. I didn’t know if it was enough.”
UNC’s JV team plays most of its games in the Smith Center about three hours before the varsity team fills the 21,750-seat arena. Community colleges, prep schools and JV programs at Division II and III schools fill out the schedule.
“At first, it was a learning curve,” Hawkins said. “I had to adjust to the faster pace and Carolina just plays a faster pace of basketball. It was a lot more than I was used to, and I was playing point guard. I had played that previously, but at this pace I wasn’t used to it.”
After coming off the bench for two games, Hawkins became a regular starter under Sean May and Marcus Paige, two assistant coaches on the varsity staff. Season stats weren’t available, but Hawkins was among UNC’s top facilitators.
“I had to prove myself in the games. … Over the season, I just got more comfortable,” Hawkins said.
“I think I played better every game and I think they saw that I was on an exponential trajectory. They took a chance on me. I’m assuming they put in a good word for me with Coach Davis to give me a workout during the summer.”
From a ‘Carolina family’ to joining the Carolina basketball family
Before the start of each season, UNC allows a few JV players to tryout for the varsity squad as walk-ons. It’s a role that includes a spot at the end of the bench and, maybe, a few minutes at the end of a blowout.
Still, that’s the chance to be a Carolina basketball player.
“I was up here during the summer, but I didn’t find out until the second week of July. We were having workouts and I was just planning to come to workouts like usual,” Hawkins said.
“Coach May texted me that (Hubert Davis) wanted to talk to me, so I was thinking this is either going to be really good or really bad. It ended up being really good. We had a conversation and, at the end of it, he asked me to join the team. I was ecstatic. It was really a life-changing moment.”
As the lone JV alum on UNC’s 2024-25 roster, Hawkins rocks a No. 14 jersey. That’s the number worn by Derrick Phelps, Danny Green and current UNC assistant Jeff Lebo. Phelps (1993) and Green (2009) were on national championship teams. It’s a list Hawkins hopes to join in April by pushing his high-profile teammates.
“I’ll guard RJ or Elliot. I’ll guard Ian. All those guys, they’ve done a great job of being them,” Hawkins said.
“They’ve made me better and, hopefully in turn, it’ll make them better. … Hopefully, we can be the fastest team in the country this year.”
But even as he shifts the focus to the daily grind of classes and basketball, Hawkins often reminds himself of how special it is for him to continue the legacy of his “Carolina family” while now being a part of the Carolina basketball family.
“I got on the (JV) team, just trying to do my best and make the best plays,” Hawkins said. “Now I’m here, so I guess it worked out pretty well for me.”
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: UNC basketball: Russell Hawkins went from JV to Hubert Davis’ Tar Heels
