Analysts project Dwayne Haskins as high first round draft pick

“Haskins doesn’t get as many downfield targets as scouts would like to see, but he flashes the requisite arm talent to be a high ceiling starting QB in the NFL.”

-Kyle Crabbs, The Draft Network

Look, I would love to see Dwayne Haskins come back for another year as the starting quarterback at Ohio State. I’m honestly a bit afraid to see the OSU offense under Tate Martell next year, not because he’s not talented, but I worry about going back to a run-first quarterback after seeing the offensive output this season.

Now granted, Ryan Day might not be the play-caller next season, so it might work itself out, but college football has been moving away from option, zone-read systems in favor of high-octane passing attacks, and I’m afraid that if left to his own devices Urban Meyer will stubbornly stick to what he knows best and keep the offense stagnant as other teams pass OSU by.

But, that’s a debate for another day. Today, let’s talk about the fact that when Mel Kiper, Jr. says this about you, you have to declare for the draft.

I don’t think that Haskins is necessarily “ready” for the NFL, and I absolutely believe that another year in Columbus — whomever his QB coach/OC might be — would be beneficial to his long-term development, but if you’re talking top-10, top-15 money, you’ve gotta go.

In football, nothing is guaranteed, and I’m not just talking about contracts. This next draft isn’t exactly star-studded at the quarterback position, but 2020 could have Tua Tagovailoa, Jake Fromm, Jacob Eason, and more — depending on 2019 departures — that Haskins would have to contend with.

So, Simba, I love you, but get the money while you can, buddy. You’ve already given Ohio State one of the most incredible season-long performances in history.

“He’s being evaluated,” the head coach said. “It’s a shoulder dislocation. We’re hopeful that he’s going to recover. We will know more later.”

-Chris Holtmann via Patrick Murphy, 247 Sports

The scariest moment in the basketball Buckeyes’ first loss of the season came when freshman standout Luther Muhammad took a nasty fall and appeared to injure his shoulder. However, 247 Sports is reporting that the guard had an MRI on Thursday, and the thought going in was that it would be to confirm that the injury was not season-threatening.

We haven’t had any information about the test results at the time of publication, but it is reassuring that the initial thought was that this shouldn’t derail the fantastic start that Muhammad has had to his first season in Columbus.

He is averaging 8.9 points per game in the first seven contests, but it has been his defensive effort that has already endeared him to the Buckeye faithful. Hopefully if the New Jersey native has to miss any time, it is enough to get him back to 100 percent in time for the Big Ten portion of the season.

Saturday’s Big Ten Championship Game will feature two football teams with extremely differing styles. The Northwestern defense is a textbook “bend but don’t break” unit, which uses its zone scheme to keep offensive skill position players in front of them, conceding small gains, but preventing the big plays.

Ohio State’s defense on the other hand has been a “boom or bust” unit all season. They’ve early looked great blowing up plays, or looked awful giving up chunk play after chunk play.

On offense, the Wildcats are one of the least explosive teams in the country (literally, they are 124th in Marginal Explosiveness). However, while the Buckeyes aren’t a particularly explosive offense by the stats, as we’ve seen in recent games, Haskins, Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, K.J. Hill, Johnnie Dixon, Chris Olave, and company can break a big gain at any point.

The Buckeyes bring a big advantage into the game on both sides of the ball, but as we’ve seen this season, OSU hasn’t always been able to dominate the teams that it should. But, if they bring even half of the energy and attention to detail that they did against Michigan, Meyer should be leaving Indianapolis with his third Big Ten title.

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