Haskins elevated Ohio State QB play
Dwayne Haskins Jr. beat out Joe Burrow as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. That’s how good he was.
He beat Michigan in emergency relief of injured J.T. Barrett. That’s how composed he was.
He beat Penn State in a White Out game. That’s how tough he was.
He beat the drum for an injured teammate, defending Nick Bosa’s decision to turn pro early. That’s how supportive he was. He beat back the stereotype that Ohio State was not a quarterback school, which helped lead Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud to Columbus. That’s how influential he was.
Then he was gone before you knew it, leaving school early and beating it to the NFL to become the highest drafted Ohio State quarterback (15th overall to Washington) since Art Schlichter went fourth in 1982. And now he has left this world way too soon. The 24-year-old Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback died Saturday when a dump truck struck him when he attempted to cross lanes on I-595 near Fort Lauderdale for “unknown reasons,” according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Where to begin? How about with Haskins’ legacy at Ohio State?
Many choose to remember Haskins as the quarterback who beat out Burrow for the starting quarterback job in 2018. And if we’re being honest, many still think Urban Meyer made the wrong choice, given Burrow’s success at LSU, where he won the 2019 Heisman Trophy, and with the Cincinnati Bengals, whom he led to the Super Bowl.
I’m not here to fixate on Meyer’s decision — this is a tribute, not a tribunal — but Haskins deserved to win the job. To argue otherwise is revisionist history. Haskins finished third in 2018 Heisman Trophy voting after throwing for 50 touchdowns, a Big Ten-record 4,831 yards and completing 70% of his passes. The Buckeyes finished 13-1, including a Rose Bowl win, mostly because of Haskins’ arm. Ohio State’s run game bogged down that season and its defense was not stellar. Long term, the “Haskins-Burrow decision” will be relegated to barroom debate. Of more lasting value is Haskins’ impact on Ohio
State’s reputation, especially among recruits and one important transfer in Fields. Until Haskins had his huge season, the Buckeyes were known in NFL circles as Quarterback Ew, which is to say OSU QBs were not high on any team’s draft board. That tends to be the case when you make more noise with your feet than with your arms.
Then came Haskins, who with help from Ryan Day took Ohio State quarterback play to a new level. Fields followed and became another first-round pick. Stroud could become another.
It’s easy to forget the effect Haskins had during his one season in the Horseshoe. So here is a reminder, a sampling of comments from 2018 by former Ohio State quarterbacks astounded by what Haskins was doing.
“He has that swagger about him, that confidence and look that is really integral to being a great one.” – Joe Germaine.
Until Haskins came along, Germaine arguably was Ohio State’s best passing quarterback, right there with Schlichter. Germaine owned the school record for single-season passing yards (3,330). Haskins blew by him with 4,831.