Dwayne Haskins Jr.

Potential New York Giants Target: It Would Be “Extremely Hard” Leaving OSU

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The New York Giants could look to draft Dwayne Haskins with the No. 6 overall pick.

The New York Giants may or may not have their eyes on Dwayne Haskins Jr. as a prospect in 2019’s NFL Draft, but don’t count on Haskins being one of the available picks. The Ohio State quarterback isn’t graduating just yet and there’s no guarantee that he’ll be one of the players to leave school early to head to the NFL. In a way, it makes sense. Who would want to leave college after leading a team to the Rose Bowl and playing just about every game on national TV?

“Extremely hard,” replied Haskins, when asked by reporters about how hard it would be to walk away from Ohio State. “It’s been a dream of mine to play here for a long time and it’s been a blessing to be a part of this team, part of this university, part of my teammates and that will be a hard decision to make. But I’m just decided to finish off the season strong.”

Leaving now for the draft also wouldn’t make Haskins one of the first players off the board. Haskins has a lack of experience at this point and has only played one season as the starter, after backing up J.T. Barrett last year and not finding much playing time. Justin Herbert and Will Grier are ranked higher in most mock drafts, so Haskins would potentially make more money by waiting until next year’s draft and getting selected higher than where he would this year.

“Right now I’m focused on Washington, of course. The NFL talk is there and everybody hears it. That’s just a blessing to be a part of and it’s been a dream come true. But as far as making a decision, I haven’t made one yet. I’ve still got a lot of time left here at Ohio State and I’m just taking it day by day, make a decision after the bowl game,” Haskins said when asked about the NFL and his decision to either stay or go.

If Haskins does stay in college, it doesn’t spell great things for the New York Giants during the Draft next year. Haskins was a quarterback who looked great during the second half of this season and who would likely be around by the time the Giants pick. If Haskins does decide to stay at Ohio State, it could just leave the Giants without a viable option in the first round unless they decide to trade up and give up something to move into the top 10.

It could also be a good thing, however. Haskins does, after all, only have one year of experience as a starter. It might be better for the Giants to take a player that has a more proven track record, anyway.

OSU QB Dwayne Haskins Jr. Shows Interest In Joining New York Giants

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The New York Giants are looking to draft a quarterback in 2019, and at least one college star has shown interest in being that player. You’ve all probably heard of this player before, and if you’re a fan of a Big Ten team, you’ve definitely seen his highlights or maybe even watched him throw touchdowns against your team’s defense. This player, of course, is Dwayne Haskins Jr., Heisman Trophy finalist and the starter for an Ohio State team that will soon play in the Rose Bowl.

Haskins was one of the best quarterbacks anywhere this year, and despite only having one year as the full-time starter and potentially leaving college as a redshirt sophomore, his performances led his team to a Big Ten title and multiple victories over other highly ranked schools such as Penn State and rivals Michigan.

Recently, the quarterback has shown interest in being drafted by the Giants, and told the New York Post about it. “It would be pretty nice. I played ‘Madden’ a lot, and he was really good running the football. The whole offense was nice. Plaxico, Jeremy Shockey, Eli, Ahmad Bradshaw. I was basically the stats guy from my family. I would know everybody’s height and weight, what college they went to.  I’ve been a Giants fan for a long time.”

Haskins has thrown for 4,580 yards this season, and still has one game left to play, the Rose Bowl against the Washington Huskies. The game will be played on New Year’s Day and afterwards, we might just find out whether or not Haskins will declare for the draft or return to school for his redshirt junior season. Despite his great arm and his good command of the offense in the second half of the season, Haskins only has one year as the team’s starter after serving as the backup to J.T. Barrett and only getting game time when the lead was secure.

With Oregon’s Justin Herbert and West Virginia’s Will Grier sitting above Haskins in most rankings for the 2019 quarterback class, it’s very possible that Haskins could still be around during the pick #10-15 range, which is where it looks like the Giants could draft after putting together a decent second half to the season that has featured four wins after only getting one from the first half.

Big Ten: Updated Heisman Trophy Race After Week Two

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Two Saturdays into the season, and we have a good idea of who the superstars are. It’s still early in the season, so the battle for the Heisman Trophy is still in its opening phases. But let’s face it, everyone is going to talk about it anyway. Because of that, we might as well go over some of the players from the Big Ten conference that could win the award.

Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin RB

Wisconsin’s coaches are certainly doing their part in helping Jonathan Taylor win the Heisman. He was given 33 carries in the blowout of New Mexico, and he made the most of them to reach an average of 7.7 yards per rush. Not only that, but Taylor helped his team on the scoreboard by punching in three touchdowns.

They weren’t all goalline touchdowns either, with one of them coming from a 16 yard run around the edge. Overall, he had 253 yards and looked pretty good with the exception of the fumble. That’s going to be a problem if it happens in bigger games, but not many will care about early season fumbles like this. If a running back wins the Heisman this year, it looks like Taylor is the one that’s on pace to do it.

Like many of the other players that are putting up big numbers in the early season, we still have to see him against better competition. The Badgers, after all, have only played against New Mexico and Western Kentucky at this point in the season. In their next game, we’ll see Taylor against a BYU team that already has a win against power five opponent Arizona.

Dwayne Haskins Jr., Ohio State QB

Haskins already has five touchdowns through two games, despite this being his first year in the starting role. And boy, has he taken to that starting role well. You could have called the quarterback position a question mark for Ohio State going into the season, but after the first games, it doesn’t seem like there will be an actual competition mid-season.

After throwing for four touchdowns against Rutgers, Haskins should have secured the job. You could make an argument, however, that this game only has a limited value for telling how Haskins will play later in the season. Rutgers didn’t get much pressure on the quarterback and Haskins made some of his best plays while standing in a large and well protected pocket, one that gave him enough time to put the ball where he wanted.

Still, you can’t discount the throws themselves, or the staggering 87% completion percentage from 23 passing attempts. Haskins only threw three passes that weren’t caught, which is pretty impressive. Next week, we’ll get to see what Haskins and the rest of the Ohio State offense looks like against an opponent that has more quality. The Buckeyes have to go to Arlington to face TCU, who won both of their opening games in convincing fashion and currently hold the number sixteen spot in the national rankings.

Trace McSorley, Penn State QB

There might be some doubts about McSorley as a Heisman contender after this week, but he’s on this list of players because he entered the season as one of the biggest favorites. Where does McSorley rank right now? That depends on just how much emphasis you put on pure statistics. Because McSorley didn’t look good statistically against Pitt, but he did his job and helped lead the Nittany Lions to a dominant win.

He had a pair of touchdowns in the blowout, but after only completing 14 out of 30 attempted passes, his stat line isn’t as impressive as the team’s overall performance. Still, it wasn’t a bad game from McSorley, who made plays when they were needed and did his part to push the result from a close game to a much stronger win. His 4.8 yards per pass average, however, definitely doesn’t look good.

To be fair to McSorley, the weather during the game wasn’t good for passing. It just won’t be a game that wins over Heisman voters, and if McSorley wants to stay near the top of the race for the award, he’ll have to start taking over games in conference play. Furthermore, McSorley should likely have three touchdown passes in this game, as one surefire touchdown was dropped by the receiver in the end zone after a good pass.