Hawley is at the center of the toughness crusade

Any day, someone is going put one of those “Keep Calm. Joe Hawley is in charge” photographs on Instagram.

After a rowdy and rambunctious start to camp, Hawley has indeed calmed.

At the start of training camp, he was buzzing around the field taking on all comers in his personal battle to win the starting center position and instill an edgy toughness into the offensive line.

“The fights?” Hawley said. “Oh, the fights. That was just kind of a product of a little bit of the competitive nature of camp, frustration and the heat.”

Hawley was kind of embarrassed by the fights.

“I wasn’t going out there looking to fight,” Hawley said. “I think it was just a byproduct of competing. There’s a lot of competition out there. There are a lot of young guys fighting for spots. But I just want to transfer that over onto the football field not in a fighting manner, but in a physical manner.”

The fight highlight came when, after being admonished by the coaching staff not to fight, Hawley got into a major scrap with the Tennessee Titans.

He lost his helmet in the scrum and just ran off the field into the locker room.

Later in the team meeting, coach Mike Smith told the team that while Hawley was wrong for getting into the fight, he was doing the right thing by defending a teammate’s honor.

Hawley said he wasn’t fined for the altercation.

“You want to back up the guys you are playing with,” Hawley said. “I think as an (offensive) line, we really enjoy playing with each other. If anybody messes with one of us, then you have to deal with the whole group.”

Hawley, 25, a fourth-round pick in 2010 out of UNLV, took over the position last season and started seven games. He appears to have won the completion with Peter Konz for the starting center position.

“That’s his decision, but I’m working with the first team right now,” Hawley said. “I think we are gelling really well.”

New offensive line coach Mike Tice isn’t ready to declare Hawley the winner.

“Fortunately for us our center is playing at a high level,” Tice said. “Both centers, Pete (Konz) is coming off a good game, too.”

In the retooled blocking scheme, the center is like the point guard in basketball. Tice does not load him down with a bunch of calls, but does expect the center to be able to identify the defense.

If the identification is proper, the linemen can play faster and execute their blocks.

“The centers need to learn coverage,” Tice said. “That’s what we are trying to teach.”

Hawley spent his first three seasons as former center Todd McClure’s backup. Last season, Konz was handed the job, but couldn’t hold it down and Hawley re-entered the picture.

He feels that his time with McClure has helped him immensely.

“There are a lot of savvy veteran moves that I learned from him,” Hawley said. “I learned a lot about how to study film and how to study an opponent. He was a smaller center like me and he showed me how to use my quickness to my advantage. I’ve learned a lot from him.”

Hawley has also picked up a few things from Falcons defensive tackle Paul Soliai, a former Pro Bowler.