This is one of three articles in the Not MY Heisman campaign leading in to Saturday night’s Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York City. We’re down to three finalists with Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Oklahoma Sooners QB Kyler Murray and Dwayne Haskins of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Every one of them has their flaws. As we know, Tua Tagovailoa does not possess the clutch gene, and Kyler Murray’s talent cost him a Heisman. And now it’s up to Dwayne Haskins.
If you read the other two articles in the Not MY Heisman campaign, it was easy to find obvious reasons why Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray were not Heisman worthy. This one took some digging. After approximately four minutes of thought, I came to the realization that Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins is not a good locker room guy despite knowing nothing about him and not being anywhere near the Buckeyes locker room this season.
After redshirting his first season in Columbus, Haskins backed up starter J.T. Barrett and played well in limited playing time. With Barrett having Urban Meyer’s shiny new toy breathing down his neck throughout the season, it had to take a toll on him. A backup quarterback’s job is simple – hold your own but show up the starter.
A quick Twitter search will tell you the fan base would have preferred Haskins to be the starter over Barrett. This is an absolute fact because the only opinions that matter in the blog game come from anonymous Twitter users. After Barrett ran out of eligibility, it was up to a competition between Haskins and junior Joe Burrow for the starting quarterback job.
It could’ve been a classic case of an upperclassman quarterback waiting his turn for an opportunity to finally lead his team. Well, it didn’t work out that way because Haskins proved to be a much better quarterback, forcing Burrow’s exit to LSU.
Take a little advice from my guy Alex Hornibrook playing quarterback at Wisconsin. He has been the Badgers starting quarterback three years in a row and fans beg for a quarterback competition every offseason. Backup quarterbacks at Wisconsin tend to stick around because Hornibrook does not overwhelm them with his talent. Now that’s an example of a good teammate.
This is all evidence of Haskins being a bad locker room guy, and I would rather be a good locker room guy than a Heisman winner. It’s always something nice to fall back on even if you’re not very good compared to the competition.
Haskins is the only one of the three finalists who will definitely have a new head coach next season with Urban Meyer stepping down. Is Haskins a coach killer? Something to think about.
Haskins quietly leads the nation in some major passing categories with 4,580 yards and 47 touchdowns. That should be enough to win a very prestigious award for the Ohio State football progrum, right?
It would certainly have been enough if he had proven to be a good locker room guy.
Dwayne Haskins is Not MY Heisman.
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