Ohio State To Pay Tribute To Dwayne Haskins During Upcoming Spring Game

"I have a list of things that I’ve written down, some probably too big, some maybe not big enough."

Ohio State is planning to pay tribute to late quarterback Dwayne Haskins during Saturday’s Spring Game, though head coach Ryan Day isn’t quite sure what all that will entail as the Buckeyes are still shocked by his sudden death.

“We’re still deciding on that,” Day said during his press conference on Monday morning. “We’re still trying to process all of that. In today’s day and age, things happen so fast. We’re just trying to digest it all. I have a list of things that I’ve written down, some probably too big, some maybe not big enough. We’ll just keep talking about it this week.

“I don’t think we’ll decide this week, but (we're) certainly going to do something on Saturday to recognize him in some sort of tribute, which I think is very, very appropriate, especially with Buckeye Nation all being together.”

The 24-year-old Haskins died on Saturday morning after he was hit by a dump truck on a highway in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he was training with his Pittsburgh Steelers teammates.

There’s been an outpouring of support in the two days since, including messages from his former coaches and teammates on social media. A candlelight vigil is also planned for Tuesday evening outside of the rotunda of Ohio Stadium, where a couple of No. 7 jerseys, flowers, photographs and other memorabilia have already been left behind in Haskins’ memory.

Once a Buckeye, Always a Buckeye pic.twitter.com/sXADa4HvEq

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) April 10, 2022

“There’s a good group of our guys who played with Dwayne, and they are hurting,” Day said. “It was a tough weekend for all of us … It’s hard to wrap your mind around something like this, especially when it just happened so tragically to a young person, especially somebody who had such a big heart.”

Haskins set numerous school and Big Ten records during his lone season as a starter in 2018, when he threw for 4,831 yards and 50 touchdowns to lead the Buckeyes to a conference title and victory in the Rose Bowl – a moment he manifested as a young child. 

He then became the first Ohio State quarterback to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft in almost 40 years when he went No. 15 overall in 2019.

“He was 11 years old, walking though this facility and said, ‘This is what I’m going to do,’ and then did it,” Day said. “That’s the legacy he’s going to leave behind to so many other younger people across the country, not just in Buckeye Nation, that you can set a dream and goal and achieve it. He did it and then broke a lot of records that year.

“I think that’s one of the biggest legacies that he’s going to leave behind is that he set a dream and he chased it and he did it.”

It was difficult for Day, who spent two years as Haskins’ offensive coordinator and three games as his interim head coach, to put into words how much the former signal-caller meant to him.

All he knows is that he wants to celebrate Haskins, who kickstarted one of the nation’s most potent passing attacks, with the fans who cheered him on to great success and have mourned his loss.

“I heard an interview with him after the (2018) Big Ten Championship Game and someone asking him questions about all the records he broke and everything like that,” Day said. “The first thing he did was put the praise back on his teammates and God, but then quickly to Buckeye Nation.

“Buckeye Nation meant a lot to Dwayne. I think having everybody there on Saturday is significant and we’ll make sure we do things the right way. And then moving forward, we just want to make sure we do it the right way and think it through.”

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