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ROSE BOWL GAME: OHIO STATE VS WASHINGTONDecember 30, 2018Dwayne HaskinsPasadena, California Q. How do you feel, first of all? DWAYNE HASKINS: Feel pretty good. Excited about the game. How has this. Q. How has this trip been so far, the festivities? DWAYNE HASKINS: It's been a lot of fun, traveling to L.A. with my teammates, having fun, experiencing the life, it's pretty cool. Q. What's the highlight so far? DWAYNE HASKINS: Probably Disneyland. Everything else has been pretty cool, as well. Q. Did you watch any of the Bowl games yesterday? DWAYNE HASKINS: I watched the first half of the Clemson/Notre Dame game and then I turned it off. I didn't watch much of the Alabama game. Q. What did you take away from it? Anything? DWAYNE HASKINS: I thought we should have been in it, but take it out on Washington. Q. What does that mean, take it out on Washington? Big victory? DWAYNE HASKINS: I couldn't tell you, just want to win the game, sir. Q. Can you talk about your thoughts on Washington's secondary? DWAYNE HASKINS: You know, athletic group. They have two All-Americans in the back end. They do a lot of stuff in the secondary and you know, they do it really well. They are like Top-5 in the country, and you know, I'm excited for the challenge. Q. What is the main challenge of trying to navigate -- DWAYNE HASKINS: Biggest thing is knowing situations, knowing when you take a shot, when you have to take the ball down, knowing certain coverages for certain looks, protections, and just executing, completing the ball when it needs to be completed, probably the biggest challenge. Q. The backfield, any similar to Washington? DWAYNE HASKINS: Kind of Northwestern, keep stuff in front of them. Make you have to play purpose football and I feel like they do a really good job with that. Q. With Coach Meyer -- DWAYNE HASKINS: Everybody just wants to go out there on the right note, most importantly, and giving it our all when we play Washington. Q. Is it a little different wearing shorts out today? DWAYNE HASKINS: Yeah, definitely, the weather is a lot better here than it is in Ohio. L.A. is definitely a great place, and I'm glad we were able to play in the Rose Bowl and couldn't ask for more. Q. Do you have family coming out from Maryland? DWAYNE HASKINS: Yeah, my parents and family came in yesterday. Q. This will be Urban Meyer's last game. Has he been more sentimental at all? DWAYNE HASKINS: Yeah, definitely just being in the moment, what we always preach, find a way to win the game. He's definitely been very personable since everyone knows it's his last game. We're just excited for this opportunity to go out with a win and his last game of all time. I know it's emotional for him. Q. Do you notice any difference with Coach Day, any difference in practice? Is he a little more vocal? DWAYNE HASKINS: Maybe a little bit but Coach Meyer is still the coach and Coach Day knows that. Coach Day always does a great job coaching us, he's always vocal with us as an offense and he's getting used to the defense now. He's getting used to everybody. Q. Behind J.T. and Cardale, do you feel there was a lot of pressure on you going into the season? DWAYNE HASKINS: I don't want to say it was pressure during the season. Definitely during the spring, trying to figure out, not fill the void but help out with the loss of J.T. as a leader and just learning how to take over for an offense that I haven't played or started in like two years. So trying to figure out how to be "the guy" again, so that's probably the biggest challenge for me. Q. Is it real tough for you? DWAYNE HASKINS: It was a challenge, definitely, during spring ball and camp and trying to figure out my voice on the team. But once I figured it out, it's like, you know, took it and ran with it. Q. How do you feel you've grown throughout the season? DWAYNE HASKINS: I think the biggest thing is just trust. You know, you just can't grab a guy by his face mask and yell him if you haven't earned anybody's trust yet. Of course I had some trust playing in the Michigan game last year, so people knew that I could play, but just being able to show game-in and game-out that I can ball, just let guys come around me, and as far as like the last four or five games, I felt like I had that vocal leadership that I felt like I needed to be. You know, it's been getting better every game. Q. How does that inspire you -- DWAYNE HASKINS: Oh, for sure, didn't win the Playoffs and the Heisman, so adds fuel to the fire. Honestly just want to go out and give it my best shot and leave it all out on the field. Q. What would you say to your fans, the Ohio fans that are coming to support the game? DWAYNE HASKINS: Well, it's going to be a show, and you know, they travel well, so going to give it our best shot. Looking forward to seeing all the red jerseys in the fans. Thankful for all the fans that watch us and support us. Q. Any fans that inspired you as you were growing up? DWAYNE HASKINS: I like a lot of quarterbacks. I feel like I take certain parts of everybody's game growing up. I love Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Roethlisberger and now it's more like Watson and Newton. Still Rodgers and Brees, but just taking accuracy of Drew Brees or pocket mobility of Aaron Rodgers or leadership of a Drew Brees or whatever, just trying to figure out how I can add everybody's game to my known. Q. As far as the weather in Pasadena, what does it feel like, fresh air and sunshine and mountains? DWAYNE HASKINS: It's nice. It makes you want to get up and practice. Being in Ohio it gets pretty cold so we practice inside. When you go outside and you see the sun, it gives you a good feeling. Q. How will this game impact your choice to go to the Draft? DWAYNE HASKINS: I haven't really thought about that. I feel like I have a long body of work, so really the game is another opportunity for me to showcase. I don't feel like it will make-or-break what I want to do as far as making a decision. I really just wanting it out there and get a win and give it all for my teammates. Q. What's a memorable moment? DWAYNE HASKINS: A lot of moments, my first start as an Ohio State Buckeye, throw for 300 yards, five touchdowns, that was unbelievable. Games like Northwestern and Michigan, Indiana game, coming back at Maryland where I grew up at. There's a whole bunch of moments that really just were for a lifetime. Q. When you step out on the field Rose Bowl day, talk about your emotions and adrenaline. What will it be like? DWAYNE HASKINS: I'm keel calm, cool and collected. I don't really get too hyped up. I don't get too nervous. I just want to go out there and give a sense of confidence for my teammates. It's a great atmosphere here and best Bowl game of all time and just looking forward to playing in this stadium. I came to a couple camps here when I was younger, so this will be a dream come true for me to be a college football player in this stadium. Q. What kind of impact has Urban Meyer had on you as a player and as a person? DWAYNE HASKINS: Tremendous impact. You know, he taught me how to work. He taught me how to be a student athlete and knowing that what I was doing wasn't good enough, I had to push myself. He gave me a lot of tools to be a great quarterback, great leader, also a great person off the field and that a student, as well. He did a great job caring for his players and I'm going to miss him. Q. What inspires you to stay focused and play football? DWAYNE HASKINS: What inspires me, I would just say my family, my faith, knowing that I want to do well for myself and I don't want to put myself in any bad situations. As far as working hard, studying, doing what I need to do to put myself in good position in life, that's what I focus on. Q. This year, have you felt comfortable in the position, or in high school and college, is there a point where you really see the field and feel comfortable? DWAYNE HASKINS: Every game. I feel like I see the field in every game. It comes to me naturally I feel like. A lot times I feel like it's looking at a video game what I play. It's fun. Q. Talk about your faith? How does that inspire you? DWAYNE HASKINS: Just because I know that end of the day, football is just a game and I know that I have God in my life and no matter what, what's best for Him is mine, and whether it's win or loss or God forbid, any injury -- it's His plan for me so that makes me comfortable. Q. How is your education going? DWAYNE HASKINS: It's going well. I'm almost done with school. I have an over 3.0 GPA, communications major. I like school, too. Q. How has being an Ohio State quarterback helped you? You've handled yourself really well and Coach attributes that to your parents but when you're in the spotlight like that, how has that helped you handle -- you know what I mean? DWAYNE HASKINS: Yeah, being recruited sophomore year of high school, you get a lot of questions asked. Just my dad used to practice with me, so he would have a like a camera in my face when I was a little kid and he would interview me. I would have to answer questions, and I would have to learn how to answer questions, recite questions and give the right answers without sounding foolish. So I learned how to talk in front of a camera for a while now. My parents did a great job raising me, giving me the right ethics and knowing what is right or wrong and it's a credit to them. Q. So your dad knew you were going to be a star? Or at least in the spotlight? DWAYNE HASKINS: Well, my sister and I -- my sister's an actress, so she's used to performing in front of people. I've played sports since I was eight-year-old, so we always prophesied our dreams and we always went out and did them. We knew we were going to be here so we just got ready for it. Q. How did you improve your leadership? How has that grown? What do you attribute that to? DWAYNE HASKINS: When you have a guy like J.T. in front of you for two years and he's a vocal guy and he's a leader, and you have to sit back, it's hard but it just took a lot of learning and trust to be able to know that my guys, you know, value my voice, value my leadership, and just comfortability over the course of the season where I just knew I could take over and be myself. So that's probably what I learned throughout the season. Q. How would you describe Coach's demeanor since he announced -- DWAYNE HASKINS: He's still the same old Bowl coach. Offensively I would say he's a little more loose. You could tell a sense of relief to know that he can step away from coaching with his health and still have opportunities outside of football. I'm just really happy for him. Q. Do you think he'll coach again? DWAYNE HASKINS: I don't know if he'll coach again but I know he'll still be at practice, still helping out in some type of way. He's not going to be that far removed. Just probably not the same sense of stress as a head coach would be. Q. As for their defense, they have a highly regarded secondary. Can you give me a thought on the X's and O's? DWAYNE HASKINS: Yeah, the offense -- defensive coordinator is more of an NFL-based defense. They play a lot of loose zone, man coverage rebound cut mush routes, they send some exotic blitzes so you have to be on your P's and Q's when it comes to protections. Honestly they just do a lot of things well, so you have to prepare for a lot of stuff. The guys play collective defense. The back end plays pretty well, corner is pretty good, safety is pretty good, they are All-Americans, linebacker has 180 tackles. So you know, they are going to fly around the ball. We've got to make our plays on it when it matters, execute, but we have a lot of good plays I feel like for them and excited to put them on the field. Q. Is there a team you've faced this year that compares to Washington's defense? DWAYNE HASKINS: Faced a lot of defenses this year. I wouldn't say the same scheme-wise, stars talent, they are really talented. I would say probably Northwestern as far as zone average but then they have talent like Michigan, talent like Michigan State and they can play multiple types of defenses. They can press, they can bail, they can play off, a lot of different stuff that you can see out there so I'm just going to be ready for everything. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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