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.
“I look forward to every game, but a game like this just makes everything so much more worth it."– Dwayne Haskins
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.
He doesn’t have cable, so he can’t watch himself on ESPN. And though he’s often on Twitter, he said he doesn’t pay attention to “all that stuff,” even though some people send him things.
So, what does he do instead?
“Netflix and chill,” he said.
In situations when expectations must be kept low, it can help to have a mentally grounded quarterback like Haskins to go along with his unwavering confidence.
“Dwayne's focused. He's going to get the job done,” Michael Jordan said. “I think his confidence is up here.
“He's been like that since day one.”
When Haskins entered the Ohio State program, Meyer said, he used to be too low-key, or as Meyer put it, “uneven keeled.” He said the coaching staff “pushed it to even” and continues to try to push it.
Earlier this year, Meyer said he wanted Haskins to be more of a vocal leader, something the quarterback admitted “just never really was me.” He has tried to improve in that area, but on a veteran-laden offense, he hasn’t often felt the need to reach J.T. Barrett levels of intensity.
“Talked to Deshaun (Watson) about that a lot because he's not a very fiery person either,” Haskins said. “People know who you are. They can tell whether you're real or fake. There's moments when you have to be fiery, moments you have to yell. And there's moments where you have to just be calm and be cool and be even-keeled. Just having that happy medium is what is important, especially as a quarterback.
“You don't need to be in someone's face yelling all the time, especially with guys like Isaiah Prince. He'll tell you, like, 'Hey, back up.'”
If there’s ever a moment to become that fiery person that Haskins typically avoids, it might come on Saturday against Penn State.
Everything — the school records, his draft stock, his place in the Heisman standings and most importantly, a win that would give Ohio State sole possession of first place in the Big Ten East — will be on the line in Beaver Stadium. It’s the type of moment he’s been waiting for since he arrived in Columbus.
“I look forward to every game, but a game like this just makes everything so much more worth it,” Haskins said.
