Dwayne Haskins talks about relationship with Maryland, OSU coaching staffs
ORLANDO — Everybody wants a piece of Dwayne Haskins.
The four-star pro-style quarterback recruit has been hearing pitches by anyone and everyone in Orlando at the Under Armour All-America practices. The third-rated pro-style quarterback in the 2016 class is hardly the only prospect getting that type of treatment in Florida, but his situation has one little difference.
He’s still committed to Maryland.
He made that perfectly clear. For the time being, he has no intentions of setting up an official announcement because like he said, he’s committed to Maryland.
But when he made his commitment, it was to Randy Edsall, who was fired in the middle of the season. Since then, Haskins took official visits to Florida and Ohio State. He maintained the fact that his verbal to his home-state school was good, but that he was taking a deeper look at other programs to make sure he made the right choice.
It’s basically been a new recruitment.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Haskins said. “I’ve been dealing with the coaches and trying to figure out what’s going on and what school I’m committing to. But I’m enjoying it.”
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In addition to letting go of Edsall, former interim coach Mike Locksley is not believed to be coming back to Maryland. It was reported by 247sports that after Walt Bell was hired as the new offensive coordinator, the Terps offered Locksley a lesser role that he turned down.
Locksley was the one who recruited Haskins.
“It’s just different not having him around,” Haskins said. “I’m building a relationship with Coach Bell and trying to figure out what he’s all about.”
Bell is a fresh face to Haskins, but new Maryland assistant coaches Scott Shafer and Mike London are not. When Shafer was the head coach at Syracuse, he recruited Haskins. When London was the head coach at Virginia, he recruited Haskins, as well.
Haskins has also built a relationship with the Ohio State coaching staff. Following the announcement that D.J. Durkin would take over the program, Haskins took an official visit to Columbus.
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But on Tuesday, he still wasn’t willing to give the Buckeyes any special treatment.
“I like Ohio State like I like every school,” Haskins said. “Coach (Tim) Beck recruited me when he was at Nebraska so I already know him pretty well and me and Coach (Urban) Meyer are really close. I’ve got a lot of connections there.”
Also in Ohio State’s favor is the fact that it doesn’t have a quarterback in its 2016 class yet. Florida, on the other hand, just signed four-star pro-style quarterback Feleipe Franks. But Haskins has January visits lined up at LSU and Texas A&M, neither of whom have a 2016 quarterback.
With all of the coaching changes and transfers, Haskins is taking a second look at a situation that looks much different than when he committed in May.
Those relationships with the coaching staff, he said, will be what helps him in the long run.
“I want to be myself,” he said. “I could definitely learn from J.T. (Barrett) if I were to go (to Ohio State). But it’s about building relationships and getting to know what people do well and putting it toward your game.”