Dwayne Haskins Named Finalist for Heisman Trophy

Ohio State's starting quarterback was named Monday night as one of three finalists for this year's Heisman Trophy, along with Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray and Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

Haskins is the first Ohio State player to be invited to the Heisman Trophy ceremony since former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith won the award in 2006.

In his first season as Ohio State's starting quarterback, Haskins has rewritten the school's single-season passing record books, completing 348 of 496 passing attempts for 4,580 yards and 47 touchdowns – both Big Ten records – with only eight interceptions, all the while leading the Buckeyes to a 12-1 record, a Big Ten championship and a berth in the Rose Bowl, where Ohio State will conclude its season by playing Washington on Jan. 1.

He was named last week as the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and Big Ten Quarterback of the Year, as well as the winner of the Chicago Tribune's Silver Football as the Big Ten's top individual player. He broke the record previously set by Smith by winning six Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week awards this year.

Ohio State officially launched its Heisman Trophy campaign for Haskins this past weekend after Haskins threw for 499 yards – breaking his own school record – and five touchdowns in Ohio State's 45-24 Big Ten Championship Game win over Northwestern.

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"He's going one way or the other," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said Sunday, before Heisman voting concluded. "I'll fly him there myself. The way he played, and his stats against those other quarterbacks, he's got to go to New York."

Haskins, who said he learned about the Heisman Trophy by playing Road to Glory mode in the late NCAA Football video game series, said Sunday that he was honored just to be considered for the Heisman and that he appreciated the support from Meyer and Ohio State.

"It means everything to be able to have the support from the coaching staff and the players," Haskins said. "For Coach to go up and be able to vouch for me the way he did just shows how much trust he has in me. Players have done a great job this year helping me out and helping me be elite. Just excited to be even considered for the award."

Haskins said he felt like he has done enough this season to be worthy of winning the Heisman Trophy, but that just being invited to New York would be special in itself.

"I feel like I did what I needed to do to give my case to win the Heisman," Haskins said. "Broke Drew Brees' (Big Ten) touchdown record, broke Curtis Painter's (Big Ten) single-season passing record and did a lot of great things this year. It's not my choice of who gets to win the Heisman, but either way, I just wanted to be considered for it. If I win, I win. If I don't, getting ready for Washington. But just to be able to go to New York and show my kids one day that I was a finalist would mean the world to me."

All three Heisman Trophy finalists are first-year starting quarterbacks for their respective schools. Tagovailoa led Alabama to a 13-0 season this year and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, while Murray led Oklahoma to a 12-1 season and the No. 4 seed in the playoff, and all three posted spectacular statistics.

The winner of this year's Heisman Trophy will be announced in a ceremony at the PlayStation Theater in Times Square on Saturday night. The ceremony begins at 8 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.