Ohio State will honor former quarterback Dwayne Haskins at Saturday’s spring game as the football program mourns the loss of a record-breaking player who coach Ryan Day said brought compassion and excellence to the locker room.
Haskins, 24, died Saturday morning after being hit by a dump truck on a South Florida freeway. He had trained in the area with other Pittsburgh Steelers players.
Haskins played for Ohio State from 2016-18 and was a Heisman Trophy finalist in his senior season while setting Big Ten records for passing yards (4,831), touchdown passes (50), and offensive yards (4,939). He went on to become Ohio State’s first quarterback drafted in the first round of the NFL draft since 1982.
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“He was 11 years old, he walked through this facility and he said, ‘This is what I’m going to do,’ and then he did it,” said Day, who served as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and interim head coach during the Haskins’ last two seasons with the program. “That’s the legacy he will leave behind: you can set a dream and a goal and achieve it and then break a lot of records in 2018. He set a dream and he pursued it and he did it.”
Day said plans to honor Haskins both at Saturday’s spring game and in the future are still in the final stages and will be announced at a later date.
“Buckeye Nation meant a lot to Dwayne,” Day said. “Having everyone there on Saturday is important. And we’re going to make sure we’re doing things right and then move on, we just want to make sure we’re doing it right and thinking it through.”
Haskins has maintained close ties with players, coaches and others in and around Ohio State’s program, including Day’s son, RJ Day, who said Haskins took RJ to a high school football game and was “like a big brother” to him.
“We were in the car the other day, up at a small camp [RJ] went to and we drove back and tried to think about it and I didn’t really have anything good to say to him, really,” Day said. “I couldn’t quite understand what to think of all this. It’s just very confusing, sad, but it makes you hug your loved ones a little bit more and just understand how fragile life is.
“But something like that is difficult to explain.”
Day said he will miss Haskins’ calm and confident demeanor before games as he often relieves Day’s nerves. Haskins brought a compassionate approach to those around him and a smile his teammates and coaches will never forget.
His 2018 breakout season under Day’s tutelage helped Day succeed Urban Meyer as head coach.
“I don’t think any of us would be here, and the program would be where it is without Dwayne in the way it all happened,” Day said. “So life is. There are certain moments, pivotal moments in your career and life, where things can go one way or the other. In that moment, Dwayne was there and the way everything has unfolded over the course of this season, we’re here now, and he was an important part of that.”
Day had spoken to Haskins about “rebooting” his career with the Steelers and thought the team was the perfect place for the quarterback to grow and develop. Although Haskins left Ohio State in early 2019, he has remained in touch with many people in the program, including some players.
“I’m 44 years old now and I don’t know how to feel,” Day said. “Certainly when you’re 18, 19, 20 years old you just have a hard time with all this, confusing. They try to lean on each other as much as possible. What you can’t do is do or say something that you think will make everything better. It’s not going to happen. You have to go through the process.”