Joe Burrow may have had the best year of any college quarterback but, before his quick rise to fame at LSU — where he earned a national championship, was awarded the Heisman Trophy and was eventually selected No. 1 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft — he was battling it out at Ohio State for the starting job — and lost.
Nobody knows the story better than Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins, as he was the man to get the position over Burrow.
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During an interview with FOX Sports this week, Haskins recalled how he and Burrow battled it out to see who would follow J.T. Barrett as OSU's signal-caller for the 2018 season.
“I love Joe but during that battle, for almost two years, me and Joe couldn’t stand each other,” the second-year starter recalled. “Every day, whether it was morning workouts or when we had to do mat drills and it’d be me and him on the mat drill, it was gritty. Or it was practice and me and him are trying to get in front of each other to get a rep to throw to one of the starting receivers.”
Haskins continued: “It was always this heated competition but we knew we got the best out of each other. We always knew that we made each other better."
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Burrow eventually lost the race and instead of playing backup for another year, he decided he would transfer and try somewhere else.
“He said he wanted to go to LSU," Haskins recalled. "I said, 'Do your thing. We believe in you.' We still talk to this day. I'm very proud of what he did last year. It's just great watching people achieve their dreams no matter what route they took."
Burrow led the country with 5,671 passing yards and set an NCAA record with 60 touchdown passes in 15 starts this past season. He helped the Tigers take home their fourth national championship title before being selected No. 1 overall by the Cincinnati Bengals.
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But Haskins and Burrow will have the chance to relive the rivalry when Washington takes on the Bengals in Week 11.
“He made it hard for me and I made it hard for him and I didn’t let him take it away.”