Will Any Buckeyes Be Sitting Out the Rose Bowl?

Prior to playing Clemson in the College Football Playoff two years ago, the Buckeyes to a man said that none of them would be skipping a bowl game because the brotherhood was too strong.

It was easy enough to say at the time, as a playoff game is a bit more significant than a bowl game.

One year ago, the Buckeyes said the same thing about skipping a bowl game — the brotherhood was too strong and nobody would be sitting out.

And then cornerback Denzel Ward found out he was a projected Top 10 NFL Draft pick, and so he decided to sit out the Cotton Bowl against USC.

This year, however, it would appear that everybody who can play in the bowl game, will play in the bowl game.

“Most definitely,” senior receiver Parris Campbell said. “No. 1, it’s just the brotherhood we have here. No one wants to let anyone down. Who wouldn’t want to play in the Rose Bowl?”

The two most likely candidates to sit out — quarterback Dwayne Haskins and defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones — have both said they are playing in the game.

Other players have talked about it, but they came to the conclusion that there plenty are more positives than negatives, and it just wouldn’t feel right sitting out Urban Meyer’s last game.

“We have talked to some guys about it, just asking their opinion about it,” receiver Johnnie Dixon said. “Everybody’s going to stay in. It’s more important because it’s Coach Meyer’s last game. For me, I’m not going to be the highest guy in the draft, so it’s another game for me to go out and put my best game on film.”

The highest-rated Buckeye on the draft boards is defensive end Nick Bosa, who was lost for the season back in September. Haskins and Jones are also seen as first-round draft picks. Either could have sat out just as Denzel Ward did and nobody outside of Ohio State would have been surprised.

“It’s case by case, person by person,” Campbell said. “That’s a decision they make. No one really even questioned [Denzel] about it. Obviously, around that time Denzel knew he could be a top 10 pick or whatever and ended up being the No. 4 pick in the draft. So maybe that was just a risk he didn’t want to take. No one hated him or discredited him for what he was doing. The brotherhood was still strong and we went on to win that game anyway. So, it is what it is.”

When deciding whether or not to play, Jones really never got that close to sitting out. The fear of injury isn’t really something he worries about.

“People always give the stigma of injuries, but I feel like you can get injured doing anything,” he said. “You can get injured walking outside, I can get injured driving home in my car. I can get injured doing anything, so injuries are going to be there. Can’t really just avoid that so I’m going to play. I love the game of football so I’m going to play.”

Haskins may have put even less thought in not playing than Jones did.

“I was surprised people asked me that question,” Haskins said. “But people do skip bowl games nowadays, but it is different for a quarterback. For one, the offense revolves around you. Secondly, the game plan revolves around you. I go into the Woody every day to talk to our coaches about the game plan every week. So, I had to play.”

Basically, Haskins had too many responsibilities and too many people counting on him to even consider sitting out. And being labeled negatively if he had decided to sit out was never really on his mind.

“I really wouldn’t care what people would say if I didn’t want to play in the game or not because people are going to have their opinion anyway,” Haskins said. “But as far as playing for my teammates, playing for Coach [Meyer], playing for Coach Day and the rest of our coaches, there was no way I wasn’t going to play in the game because I love those guys and I would do anything for them. So, if I could do my best to help win that game, I was going to be a part of it.”