Ohio State: Dwayne Haskins wins Silver Football as Big Ten's best player

COLUMBUS — The awards are continuing to roll in for Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins.

The redshirt sophomore had already swept up a heavy collection of Big Ten awards this week after capping the regular season with another recored-breaking outing in a blowout of Michigan to win the East Division. And that performance helped push Haskins over the top on Friday when he was awarded the Silver Football from the Chicago Tribune as the Big Ten’s best player in a vote by the league coaches.

The tally wound up being much closer than might have been expected since Haskins broke nearly every single-season record of significance for a Big Ten passer while also leading the Buckeyes back to the conference title game on Saturday against Northwestern. But he eventually got the nod thanks to five-first place votes, adding to his trophy case ahead of one last chance to impress voters for the Heisman and earn an invitation to the prestigious ceremony in New York.

Haskins admitted earlier this week that he believes he should be a finalist for that stiff-arming statue, but he declined to give a stump speech or publicly campaign for votes. And the truth is his play this season speaks for itself with more than 4,000 yards passing and 46 total touchdowns accounted for while leading the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record and potentially into position to compete for the national title in the College Football Playoff.

For now, that discussion about more individual awards will have to wait for Haskins as he focuses on a team goal and a trophy the Buckeyes can share by knocking off Northwestern.

But with one more performance like he just delivered by picking apart Michigan’s top-ranked defense, Haskins might not be done winning over voters before facing a decision about whether or not to head to the NFL draft.