Learning From Mistakes
The process of getting better for any athlete involves learning from mistakes rather than focusing on them.
When Ohio State right tackle Isaiah Prince had his rough moments as a sophomore in 2016, he wasn’t yet able to distance himself from his mistakes. He couldn’t take his eyes or mind off of them, which held him back from moving forward. And too much of his time was spent worrying about making another mistake.
Now a senior, Prince can look back on his early days and not only recognize what he did wrong during the game, but also after the game.
“I didn’t learn that until after my 2016 season,” Prince said. “Just going into my workouts I had a lot of time to reflect on what I needed to do to become a better player. That was one of the things I thought about, you just can’t care too much about making mistakes. If you make a mistake, you’ve got to keep going forward because everybody makes mistakes.”
How was he able to move on and no longer concern himself with mistakes?
“Just having a different mindset and talking to myself positively and not focusing on making a mistake,” he said. “Just playing hard. If you play as hard as you can, you’re still going to make mistakes, but it’s how you react after you make a mistake.”
Too Much Made of Michigan?
Last November as a redshirt freshman quarterback, Dwayne Haskins came off the bench in Ann Arbor and led the Buckeyes to a 31-20 victory.
Haskins came into the game in the third quarter with the Buckeyes trailing 20-14 and immediately led the offense on a scoring drive to secure a 21-20 lead. Haskins led the Buckeyes to field goal attempts on his next two drives, and then with OSU’s final possession, Mike Weber sealed the deal with a 25-yard touchdown run to make it 31-20.
So much was made of Haskins’ performance immediately after that game and the hype hasn’t died down yet.
In fact, in Yahoo’s College Fantasy Football rankings this year, Haskins is the No. 3 overall player in their draft rankings (Power 5 teams only).
Some have begun to wonder if too much is being made of that performance against Michigan.
Ohio State senior H-back Parris Campbell disagrees with that notion, however.
“I don’t think people are making too much of it because honestly, that stage, to perform as he did on that stage, against our rivals, that’s huge,” he said. “Especially for our coaches and our teammates, that’s ultimately what matters. But for me, to see him perform like that was huge, to see him come out on that stage.”
The Biggest Game in the World
Dwayne Haskins came to Ohio State from Maryland as one of many out-of-state players that Urban Meyer has signed over the years.
For the players that come from in-state or even from that state up north, there isn’t usually a need to explain the Ohio State – Michigan rivalry because they’ve grown up with it.
For the out-of-state players, however, they will get a nice dose of the rivalry during recruiting. And if they sign with Ohio State, the indoctrination is quick and long-lasting.
“If you’re not familiar with it, you need to learn quick because it’s a rivalry with a lot of tradition,” Buckeye defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones said. “It’s been happening way before my time. Way before your time.
“There’s so much history behind that. From the Charles Woodson days to the Eddie George days to the Ted Ginn days. There’s just so much. That game is bigger than the sport I feel like sometimes. It’s the greatest rivalry in all of sports.”
