It has been assumed for a while now, but it was officially confirmed by acting head coach Ryan Day on Monday that redshirt sophomore Dwayne Haskins will be the starting quarterback for the Buckeyes in 2018.
But it won’t be just Haskins running the show this season. Redshirt freshman quarterback Tate Martell will also see some playing time according to Day.
“Tate made some great progress, he really did,” Day said. “Especially in the last two weeks he made a really big push. Dwayne will start on Saturday, he’s the starter. But the plan is to play Tate. How, when, or anything like that, we don’t know yet. But he’s been getting better.”
While impressed with Martell’s efforts throughout fall camp, Day expressed his happiness with Haskins’ growth as the starting quarterback of this team. But there are still concerns with both Haskins and Martell surrounding game experience.
“Dwayne’s done a great job,” Day said. “Along with a lot of other guys, his leadership had to step up and he’s done that. And so throughout practice he’s gotten stronger, especially from the spring. And so as we prepare for this week, he’s got to have a good week of practice as we go because he hasn’t started a game before and so that’s a big part of this thing.”
Haskins stepped in for J.T. Barrett in last year’s win over Michigan, where he completed 6-of-7 passes for 94 yards and 24 rushing yards in three carries. With big shoes to fill as the starter, Haskins is taking a game-by-game approach.
“You saw at the end of the season last year when he had to step into a role, he stepped right in there and he was ready to go,” Day said. “But now being a starter, that’s different.
“You have to prepare different, you have to be ready. Teams have film on you and they start to see some of your tendencies. So it’s going to be a week to week process as we get going. He has never started a game. So it will be a work in progress, but we’re very happy with where he’s at.”
While both quarterbacks can be considered a work-in-progress because of all of the change surrounding the program this year, the decision to start Haskins but still incorporate the talent of Martell wasn’t something that was decided overnight. Throughout fall camp, Martell and Haskins practiced splitting reps.
“The two of them really got the majority of the reps because [true freshman] Matthew [Baldwin] still isn’t ready from his knee, and so all the reps that were had were really split in two,” Day said. “When Joe was here in the spring it was split into thirds, so the good news there was there was a lot of reps to learn from.”
The legacy of quarterbacks under Urban Meyer has added pages to Ohio State’s record books. Braxton Miller is third in school history in total offense (8,609), and that’s in just two years as a starter at quarterback. J.T. Barrett, of course, has seemingly put the records out of reach based on his nearly four years as a starter. And then there is Cardale Jones, who went undefeated as a starter and led the Buckeyes to a national title.
That is a lot to live up to, but Day doesn’t want Haskins worrying about history. He wants him focused on the present.
“The thing we talk about with Dwayne is he doesn’t have to be J.T., he doesn’t have to be Braxton, he doesn’t have to be Cardale,” he said. “All the quarterbacks, they have to be themselves.”
This off-season, Haskins worked hard at becoming the best version himself that he could possibly be.
“Dwayne again has a lot of talent, he’s very talented throwing the football,” Day said. “He’s worked on his athleticism, strength, power.”
But Haskins also had to change his body a lot this offseason. Day credited his transformation to the determination of Haskins and the work of strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti.
“He’s worked hard in the off-season to change his body,” Day said. “That’s something that Mickey Marotti has done an unbelievable job of.”
It is clear that both quarterbacks developed over the summer and pushed each other to improve. How Ohio State will mesh and utilize the talent of both Haskins and Martell in games still remains unknown, but not for much longer.