Leadership can be defined a number of ways. When you really think about it though, you generally only have two types of leaders. On one hand, you have a leader who is simply a leader because of his or her position. It’s an appointed status. On the other hand, you can have a leader who, because of their actions, causes people to follow them. It’s an earned position.
There is no way around it. You have leaders in every workplace, every study group, and every group of friends. They are going to fall into one of those two categories.
At Ohio State, every year it is expected to have a handful of leaders who help guide and mold the football team. Last year, the Buckeyes had the luxury of guys like Billy Price, J.T. Barrett, Tyquan Lewis, and Sam Hubbard holding down the fort. This year, new people will have to step into those massively vacant holes, and one spot where it will be needed most is quarterback.
All the way through spring camp and even after Joe Burrow announced his transfer, the common theme was that Burrow was a better leader than Dwayne Haskins. Few reasons were ever given, but I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that Joe Burrow was an Ohio kid who was hurt the year prior. It’s no secret that a large portion of the Buckeye fan base longs for the days of Jim Tressel starting Ohio kids everywhere.
It’s a lot better story to say he is a better leader when he doesn’t have the on-field success that Haskins had on a big stage. For whatever reason people wanted Burrow as the starter over Haskins, saying he was a better leader was the easy way out. No one could argue with you because being a leader is intangible, especially when any real information about the QB race is concealed by vague comments made by the coaching staff. Some people grasp any straw (or tire) to make this stance.
All of this leads me to the real leader — Dwayne Haskins. While a large portion of the fan base sat patiently and waited for Joe Burrow to take over, Haskins sat waiting too. He wasn’t loud and outspoken, he simply did his job and waited behind another leader. Time after time, you would see Haskins staying after practice to get more throws in. He knew his chance was coming.
See folks, that is what leaders do. They are always trying to improve their situation and improve the situation of those around them. He knew at some point the team would need him. He knew at some point he would be vying for the vacant quarterback job. He knew at some point he would be counted on. He was going to do everything in his power to ensure he did not let his team down.
On the biggest stage. In the biggest rivalry. Playing in front of a hostile environment. Dwayne Haskins, your 2018 Ohio State quarterback and leader, was ready.
You see, leadership can be appointed or it can be earned. Dwayne Haskins has earned the right to be a leader of the Ohio State Buckeyes. It’s not simply a vague word assigned to him.
Buckeye Nation has a new leader to cheer on, and he is #ourQB.
I don’t think Urban named Haskins the starting QB
I think he wouldn’t name JB as the definite starter so he decided to go where He has a better shot. He has 2 years to show he is NFL talent. Urban called his bluff and lost. Haskins doesn’t have to be great he just has to be good enough to use the talent around him and we will be fine.
That’s pretty much where I am as well. I’m not sure there was any bluff calling, there was just no ability to tell Joe Burrow that he was definitely the starter since we haven’t seen how fall camp has gone yet.
O-line will determine everything. Haskins’ development and confidence, success of the running game regardless of which back starts/plays more, and play calling creativity. Give the playmakers time and they will succeed. It really is that simple.
maybe the reason why we had 2 thousand yard rushers was because JT was such a good runner. defenses could not just focus on the backs. without the threat of a running QB the backs may have to do more on their own. JT never improved on his sophmore year passing. if he did, we might not be talking about ditching the spread
Brandon, I’ll get behind whoever the QB is at tOSU. I think you left out that Burrow was doing the same thing you touted Haskins for, “Time after time, you would see Haskins staying after practice to get more throws in. He knew his chance was coming.” Burrow even more so, because of the lack of that “on-field success that Haskins had” as you point out. I believe the real Burrow showed what he was capable of in the spring game. I hope he’s successful wherever he goes.
That said, on with the 2018-19 Buckeyes and Dwayne Haskins.
The word “leader” is being tossed around so much by the coaching staff, then regurgitated by the players, that it leaves me wondering what the real story is. (Maybe we find out this fall?) I’m one of those old fashioned guys who gives weight to the BEST kind of “leadership”- leading by example. There’s not a lot of need for “rah-rah” leading when you bring results consistently, regardless of position. So, in reality, leaders are the ones doing their jobs that lead to wins.
I believe Haskins has a bigger upside. He has a couple issues he needs to work on but they are normal things for kids coming up. That big arm of his works for him and against him. It makes him fearless which can be a good thing. He thinks he can fit things into a window. This is great. You don’t always get dudes running wide open. Sometimes you gotta throw them open. He has nice touch on his passes along with a good rocket of an arm. Bad part is his arm has lead him to create bad habits. His ability to beat coverage with the strength of his arm has lead him to zero in on recievers. He doesn’t know how to look guys off and move the safeties and linebackers in zone. He is prone to being baited because of it and the stuff he got away with in high school won’t work here. Athletes are better and the window is tighter. Sometimes he makes throws he shouldn’t because he doesn’t realize his limitations.
Good news for Haskins. He has a new Quarterbacks best friend. He has a running game. He not only has a running game but he has one of the best in college football. Nothing makes a QB’s learning curve easier than a working running game.
Once Haskins realizes what throws he shouldn’t make and just either take the sack or run then he will be something special.
I think OSU is winning the national title this year based on the defense being what I think is the best in college football. The key ingrediant was the new QB and the lifting of the limitations on the offense formally imposed by Barretts skill set. I don’t think there will be a team on the regular season schedule who will come within 10 points of OSU. Most are going to lose by 3+ TDs. This is going to be a special year.
You learned all of that from his 1 career interception?
Good article. I think Meyer has earned the right to determine who leads this team. He might be wrong, but I bet he’s been right more often than all the naysayers on here. Haskins is the man!
Funny how the writers on the Ozone are trying to “sell” it’s readers on how good Haskins is or can be or should be or might be or…..We lost our best QB option…I personally want to see Burrow succeed this year with whatever team he ends up playing on….and have a better year than Haskins.
Nobody is selling anything. This is a column from Brandon on how he feels about the situation. I’m not sure why a Buckeye fan would want a quarterback to have a better year than a Buckeye quarterback tho.
U got that right Tony. Buckeye fans throughout the country are rooting for Dwayne to have a banner year to lead the Buckeyes to a National Championship. Coach Meyer has chosen Dwayne to start at QB. He knows better than anyone else who gives the Buckeyes the best shot at winning. My $ are on Coach, & not on “experts” who have every right to have an opinion, but who are not living day to day with the personalities of the team members, and their leadership qualities as he and the assistant coaches see it. Just relax. In Urban we trust.
My opinion on Joe Burrow being the better leader AND quarterback doesn’t have a single thing to do with anything. He proved he was the better quarterback and was ditched for politics. It really is that simple. It’s not because Dwayne can’t be good at all the requisites, because he can. It’s not that he’s lacking in his ability to throw the ball. He does however lack any kind of consistency in the short passing game and he can’t run. All the _ichigan hyperbole when he had a good run or made a good pass that Austin Mack bailed him out on, is a bunch of poppycock. Joe Burrow was the best option this staff had………PERIOD. I could care less about the CEO’s BS politics, or who tries selling it to the fanbase.
Dwayne is the Buckeye QB and I think everyone wants him to be successful. I just have doubts in his ability when he has time to actually think about what he’s doing. Against _ichigan when he came in, it was yodaesque……do or do not. No time to think about plays, and simply run the play that was called without the ability to check out of a bad play, or run for his life.
I don’t anticipate the starter of the season to be behind center come late November.
I think Dwayne was pretty accurate on the short crossing routes against Michigan though.
When did Joe Burrow prove that he was the better QB? You mean when he had a better day throwing the ball in a 7 on 7 scrimmage of 2 hand touch football? And why do you discredit what Haskins did against Michigan in a live setting? You speak nothing but sour grapes because Urban Meyer didn’t choose the QB that YOU wanted, so you blame “politics”
Politics is why Joe Burrow isn’t at OSU any longer. I don’t care if you or anyone else likes it or not. The CEO has a long history of that.
Logan apparently you were either……not a Buckeye far……….or braindead for the 2016 season. One of those same 2 factors was also true before Joe Burrow broke his hand which allowed Dwayne to move up a spot. Dwayne NEVER, EVER beat Joe Burrow out for the starting spot.
I cry sour grapes when the obviousness of the TRUTH screams for it. CEO Meyer played politics because like they said when he was at Florida, he’s a liar.
If your pretty pink panties don’t like it……..too damned bad.
I totally agree with this statement. I think this writer has a completely different take on what makes being a leader. A leader doesn’t do a immature act behind the backs of the other QB’s. The stunt that Haskins made by staying after practice was a slap in the face to his “brother” QB’s, especially at the time when all agreed it was time to go home. But noooo, Haskins has to turn the videos on right at that moment. Crappy move which lead me to believe it was staged! This has lead me to not like the character of Haskins as Joe always showed respect throat this ordeal and in my eyes was and should have been the “true leader.” The decision has been made and Haskins needs to thank Austin Mack for getting him this position. If Austin hadn’t made that catch we would be singing a different tune. I hope he proved out to be everything we want but in short sight I don’t believe he has “it” in him. I hope I’m wrong.
Urban has never won with a one dimensional QB. Rather shocking he has chosen to do so this year. Now we have 2 qb’s. The problem is, one of them is 10 years from being a starter.
Could it be argued that Dwayne Haskins is as good a runner as Braxton Miller was a passer?
I think you could make that argument, but I hope we aren’t looking for another Braxton Miller. We are trusting TOSU future based on 5-6 plays in one half of football. From all indications Joe out played Haskins in the spring, and showed everyone in the spring game as well
“From all indications” the coaches weren’t able to say who did better. Fwiw.
We may be trusting it but the coaches know. They work with these kids every day. Haskins was a high profile recruit. Haskins flashes right now in limited play. Its enough. Haskins isn’t one dimensional. Jones was one dimensional. Haskins is not the runner Barrett was but he isn’t slow either. The thing I like in those limited plays was when shit was breaking down. Watch him when things start to go bad and how he reacts. He doesn’t panic. That is a great sign. Previous OSU QBs panicked. Miller panicked. Jones panicked. Pryor panicked. All these dudes were prone to make 1-3 really bad throws per game due to pressure and the obvious running lane being shut down. I saw two plays against Michigan where he saw pressure and he handled it cool as ice.
What does it mean? Nothing. He is a young fella and he is going to screw up much like anyone else. But he has some tools and he makes good decisions. I like how he looked under pressure. He is going to be ok.
Trust the coaches. They know more than we do.
Great point
You could argue it but it would be a really bad argument.
tat could be argued about miller but the main point is that –from all we could see in limited time…Burrows was the better passer AND runner of the two….I will root for Haskins of course but just seems to me OSU had better shot at tile with Burrow
Love it! Thanks for having the cojones to shout this out. Every positive for Dwayne Haskins isn’t necessarily a negative for Joe Burrow. One has to believe that Urban Meyer and staff know a little bit more about football than the average six paragraph Joe (or Jim or John or Jeff, or whomever). So, we don’t really know the future of this team, but I guarantee that it will be a team effort, LED by one Dwayne Haskins. Go Bucks!
I don’t know about urban’s infallibility, he picked the wrong qb in 2015. He can’t pick the wrong one this year, it will play itself out, hopefully he stays healthy all year, that will be the real key.
I don’t think he picked the wrong quarterback in 2015. He picked the wrong offensive coordinator. Warinner should never have been taken away from the offensive line. My opinion is that Ed remains one of the very best offensive line coaches in the Country. The CEI moving him to OC had a terrible domino effect. It cost the Buckeyes on the OLine. It dramatically crippled the offensive play design and gameday scheme, and ultimately led to the Buckeyes losing a great offensive line coach. Also can’t overlook the fact that Ed was a virtual yes man for the CEO. The SCHEME is what cost the Buckeyes a National title in 2015. Give Cardale a Coordination who actually knows how to regiment an offense around the talent and Jones would have lit up the Big 10. No doubt in my mind.
I view this so called QB competition as the same as the Warinner situation. A political move. Lets hope this one doesn’t blow up in the CEO’s face like did at the end of 2015.
His game against MI showed some real leadership. We won’t know his leadership until the middle of December. Authority is appointed, leadership is developed and modeled.
Media trying to pump this boy up. I’m still not impressed.
I think the video of Haskins in THE GAME says it all.
He came in when the Buckeyes were behind and led
the team to a huge win. There is no comparison
between this actual game performance against TTUN
and the Spring Game. I think Haskins will show everyone
just how good he is this season.
Did Haskins ever publicly thank Austin Mack for keeping alive his success in the Game last year?
Yes. He did so after the game and again during spring practices. Although he shouldn’t have to. Austin Mack was brought to THE Ohio State University to make those catches in those games. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my mailman for delivering my paycheck this afternoon, thus helping me to pay my bills. I could not have paid my bills without this Herculean effort on his part. My mailman went over and above, in order to keep hope alive.
Did you notice, the catch, could have easily been an incompletion? He didn’t cradle the ball to his body and it was loose on top of his body after the hit. In some games that would have been an imcompletion.
The problem with making silly claims is that they’re easily exposed. Joe Burrow was the back-up before he broke his hand. Go back a year earlier and you’ll actually learn that people who think Joe won the job by what he did on the field is why we believe he earned the job. In 2016 he played in 6 games and led drives down the field. He went 22 – 28 for 226 yards, or .782 completion pct with 2 TD’s. He finished the season with virtually a 170 passer rating and added 58 rushing yards.
Nobody that I know of is discounting how Dwayne performed in that surprise appearance during the _ichigan game, but, he also did it against a defense that was entirely prepared for JT Barrett and RPO offense.
I stand by my position. the CEO played politics and it cost him a starting quarterback. That won’t affect my cheering for Dwayne to do well, but I have my projections for his starting 2018 down to the running game, not the passing game. If the Buckeyes can’t run the football to the tune of between 275 – 350 yards a game this team is in trouble offensively.