A day after it was announced that former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins would be losing his starting job for the Washington Football Team, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day spoke on 97.1 The Fan for his weekly radio show about what he thought of the decision.
Day said he thinks this could end up being a positive thing for Haskins after he won the starting job for the Buckeyes in 2018 fairly easily, taking over for J.T. Barrett after he graduated.
“For him, he really didn’t face a ton of adversity when he was here,” Day said. “He played behind J.T. and won the job, then went to the NFL, and so this is gonna be a learning experience for him for sure, and I know he’s going to come out stronger in the back end.”
Day also complimented Haskins on his abilities, and that he believes that the former Heisman Trophy finalist still will be able to find his way at the NFL level.
“Dwayne is a very talented young man and I’ve got a special place in my heart for him,” Day said. “It’s not easy for him to go through, but he’s going to come out of it.
“There’s still a lot of football ahead of him.”
Haskins completed 61 of his passes for 939 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions through four games for Washington this season, including a career-high 314-yard showing against Baltimore in Week 4.
The former Buckeye signal caller was demoted to third string ahead of Washington’s game against the Los Angeles Rams, with Kyle Allen earning the start and veteran Alex Smith backing him up.
Still, Day has faith in his former quarterback, a quarterback who broke Ohio State’s single-season program records for passing yards (4,831) and passing touchdowns (50) after just one year as a starter.
“He’s resilient, he’s strong. He’s going to work through this,” Day said. “All great quarterbacks go through adversity.”
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