PENN STATE MATCHUP PRESENTS “EVEN-KEELED” DWAYNE HASKINS WITH LATEST, TOUGHEST TEST
Considering the level at which Dwayne Haskins has played so far this month, it can be easy to forget he has only started four games at Ohio State.
Each time he drops back, surveys the field and delivers the ball to a receiver, he makes it look effortless. His confidence and the ease at which he plays the position look like that of a senior, not someone who has not ever started a true road game. If it looks like he’s simply playing catch with the receiver, imagining the defenders don’t exist, that’s because those exact thoughts enter his mind in the pocket.
“Honestly, when I play, I feel like I'm playing a video game,” Haskins said. “I see the field and I see the receivers and it's like no one's there. When I play, it's just, like, execute. And every play is an opportunity to throw a completion and that's the end goal.”
Haskins achieves that end goal of a completion more often than not — and more often than any other quarterback in Ohio State history.
Troy Smith holds the program record with a 65.3 percent completion percentage in his Heisman Trophy-winning 2006 campaign. Through four games, Haskins has completed 75.7 percent of his passes. The redshirt sophomore quarterback already has the only two games in program history with 20 completions and three or fewer incompletions. And with 1,194 passing yards in four games, Haskins is on pace to surpass Joe Germaine (3,330 yards in 1998) and become the single-season passing yards leader.
“He's very, very accurate,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “If he went to the county fair, he'd hit a lot of prizes.”
The statistical record books aren’t the only lists Haskins is flying up, though. He has recently appeared among the top candidates for the Heisman Trophy. An Ohio State victory would almost certainly propel him to the upper echelon, alongside with Tua Tagovailoa.
Despite having played just four games, Haskins has also appeared in the first round of 2019 NFL mock drafts. His ascension would only grow faster with a win on Saturday.
Everything’s on the table for Haskins, and it would all be in front of him if he leads the Buckeyes into Happy Valley and heads back to Columbus early Sunday morning with a win against the No. 9 Nittany Lions.
For that reason, Urban Meyer dialed up the quarterback while driving home from Ohio Stadium following Saturday’s win against Tulane, a game in which he came one touchdown away from tying the single-game program record for passing touchdowns despite not stepping on the field in the second half.
“I called him just with that message to stay focused,” Meyer said. “And we've had some pretty high-profile guys around here and I've seen it. I've seen it, you know, go both ways where – one thing about Columbus, Ohio is this is the show, and they become bigger than life – but he's a very humble guy. He's a very conscientious guy, comes from a great family. He's been great so far.”
Though the hype surrounding Haskins has continued to rise with each passing week, he said he doesn't read or watch anything about himself — at all.
“No. My play speaks for itself,” Haskins said.
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