Justin Fields wasn’t yet the starter at Ohio State, and Dwayne Haskins wasn’t yet a first-round pick (not officially, anyway), but Fields can remember the boost of confidence Haskins tried to give him as they walked down the tunnel together for warmups before the Buckeyes’ spring game in 2019.
This is yours now, Fields recalls Haskins telling him.
Both had the world in front of them at the time. Twelve days later, Haskins would be drafted No. 15 by his hometown team in Washington. A few months after that, Fields would seize the starting job in Columbus, and wound up finishing the year first in New York for the Heisman ceremony, then in Arizona for the College Football Playoff.