Dwayne Haskins: A Person to Remember

by Chris Cooke, Lions Roar Staff

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Early Saturday morning the NFL learned of the passing of 24 year old former star quarterback of Ohio State, Dwayne Haskins. Haskins pursued a pro career with the Washington Football Team and Pittsburgh Steelers. His cause of death was determined to be caused by being hit by a vehicle on a South Florida interstate, said authorities.

     Haskins was reported to be hit by a dump truck while trying to cross Interstate 595 on foot for “unknown reasons”. Many speculate he was involved in an accident or possibly ran out of gas and was attempting to cross over to an exit to get gas. The accident was reported to have occurred around 6:37 am in South Florida.

     The death of Haskins shows how people should value every second of life and how things can change forever in the blink of an eye. Just a day before his death, Haskins uploaded a video to his Instagram saying, “oh my god, is that Najee Harris” referring to his second year running back of the Pittsburgh Steelers in a joking tone showing his vibrant personality.

     A standout at Ohio State University, he held many titles and accomplishments including the single-season passing and touchdown records for Ohio State and the Big Ten by reaching the 4,000-passing yard mark and throwing 50 touchdowns in just 14 games in a single season. This is an extremely impressive accomplishment seeing few NFL greats have reached this pedestal in a 16 or 17 game regular season. The efforts by Haskins led the Buckeyes to a tremendous 13-1 season with just one loss to the unranked Purdue Boilermakers inspired by a Tyler Trent dream. Trent was a student enrolled at Purdue with cancer who had one final wish, which was a cinderella story victory over the #2 ranked team in the country. Even with this one loss, the Buckeyes were able to bring home a 2018 Rose Bowl trophy for the program.

     Dwayne Haskins was later drafted in the 2019 NFL draft with the 15th overall pick. With this selection, he would be placed on a Washington team that had their times of struggle that were enlightened by his talent that brought them numerous exciting moments in the down years of the organization. After the team decided to move in a different direction, he was released and sent off to the Steelers. With the departure and retirement of Ben Roethlisberger, his second opportunity seemed to be forming. After the signing of veteran quarterback Mitch Trubisky, head coach Mike Tomlin announced the starting job would be an open competition between Mason Rudolph, Dwayne Haskins, and Mitch Tribusky.

     As time progresses more news will come, but in the meantime fans, family, teammates, and friends mourn and question the loss of Haskins. Chase Claypool, wide receiver of Haskins, took to Instagram saying, “I lost a brother today. Love you, 3” and later posted an emotional video of himself crying with the outpour of emotions. Along with Claypool, quarterback competition Mason Rudolph tweeted saying, “Devastated”.

     Dwayne Haskins leaves behind his parents, Dwayne Sr. and Tamara; sister Tamia; and wife Kalabrya. Together as an NFL community we grieve the loss of this young athlete and send our deepest condolences to his close friends and family.