Recruiting Rewind: Path to stardom for Dwayne Haskins not always smooth

COLUMBUS — Dwayne Haskins threw a pick-six. And then another.

The new kid, big for his age and with arm-talent visible through limo-tint, had about the most dubious debut possible at The Bullis School in Potomac, Md., after he just had moved down months earlier from New Jersey.

Then, a funny thing happened with Haskins. He started winning. A lot. Three-straight conference championships in high school.

On Wednesday, after a season full of victories and a Big Ten East Division title at Ohio State, he added the biggest individual superlatives awarded in his current conference. 

Another league title is on the line Saturday when the record-shattering quarterback leads the No. 6 Buckeyes against No. 21 Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship game.

“He was special, no question about that,” Haskins’ former coach, Pat Cilento, told Lettermen Row this week. “He didn’t play for us his ninth-grade year, he had moved down over Christmas break. He didn’t even play in New Jersey as a ninth-grader.

“His first game, I think it was a little bit of a shock to him. I think he threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. But after his first game, we won nine straight and he was unbelievable. We won a lot of games with him as our quarterback, won conference three-straight years — and we’ve only won it once since he left.”

Perhaps the only thing quicker than Haskins’ release is his ability to study and adapt on the football field. It’s much easier to name the major single-season passing records Haskins doesn’t own at Ohio State: basically none.

Touchdowns? Check. Passing yards? Check. Four-hundred yard passing games? Get a pen; pencils don’t have enough lead.

“I’m not done yet, but I want to be one of the best to ever do it when I get gone playing here at this university,” Haskins said in the wake of picking apart Michigan. “And this is a dream come true for me; I have no words to say about all we’ve done this year. …

“And to break all these records and win these games the way we’ve won this games is a blessing. And we’re going to put on a show next week.”

Next week now scarcely is 48 hours away, when Haskins faces another respected defense against the Wildcats in primetime at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Michigan, of course, is still sifting through the wreckage of Haskins’ sublime outing featuring 20 completions, six touchdowns and nearly 400 passing yards.

It’s the type of commanding performance Cilento recalls like last week’s film when he relives Haskins blossoming into stardom in the D.M.V.

“He’s a tremendous leader, includes everybody, wants everybody to be successful,” Cilento said. “It’s never about him, always about everybody else. I think you see that even in college. He spreads the ball around, wants everybody involved.

“The quarterback position is very unique and special. If you’ve got the right person there, who embraces everybody and is a leader, it makes everything so much easier. The time he was here, he had total control and they all followed him.”

As Haskins nears the end of his breakout campaign, which is leading to NFL Draft chatter, potentially a return to the College Football Playoffs for the Buckeyes and likely a trip to New York City next weekend for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, Cilento recalls the magnificent close to Haskins’ prep career.

“His last high school game was unbelievable — we’re playing our big rival, Georgetown Prep, for the championship, and we decided we were going to let him run the ball,” said Cilento. “He had been begging and begging us to run the football some. Well, he twists his ankle in the first quarter, doesn’t play the second quarter and comes back in the third quarter.

“On the final drive, down four, we get ball with like a minute, 50 seconds to go and get 92 yards in less than a minute to score and win the game. He was hobbling around almost Byron Leftwich-like. And he made three incredible throws on that drive, wasn’t fazed at all by the stage.”

Much of that is a tribute to the work Haskins does even before the game starts.

And Haskins has put in the work to embrace the spotlight.

“I think he’s always been that. He was very well trained,” Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer said. “I told you, when I went and saw him in that recruiting trip and I sat and watched that workout. It wasn’t only a great performance, but the coaching was fantastic.

“So he’s been pretty well developed.”

Maybe Haskins is college football’s new kid.

But he’s the one returning the Buckeyes to the brink of a familiar spot as both Haskins and the Ohio State program chase another conference championship.