ASHBURN, Va. -- The sun was sweltering, with the temperature soaring above 90
Tyler Smith Jersey degrees and the humidity over 90 percent, and rookie quarterback was wearing a full long-sleeve hoodie under his jersey. And despite a two-hour practice that featured Haskins running with the ball more than anyone probably expected, the young man never broke a sweat, as best I could tell, walking off the field to sign autographs after showing no signs of the suffocating conditions.Haskins, the 15th overall pick in this year's , is a cool customer. He is confident, a sured and willing to casually pepper his speech with a reference to his desire to wear a mustard jacket in Canton, Ohio one day without thinking twice about it. He certainly looked like a raw rookie at times during Wednesday's organized team activity practice -- having trouble calling out all of the proper formations and adjustments at times; throwing an end-zone interception at the end of the se sion -- but he also exuded a sense that he was wired to handle being in the middle of a potential quarterback competition just weeks into his pro career. He looks like he belongs, even when making a rookie mistake, and has the ability, charisma and personality to make Washington's training camp particularly interesting, while becoming a potential breakout star on "Hard Knocks," should this team end up on the show as many in these parts are bracing for. There will be no shortage of opining about Haskins vs. journeyman come this summer, when the team a sembles in Richmond for training camp, and every pa s this 22-year-old throws will be di sected and evaluated. Then again, that was the case a year ago in the cauldron that is Columbus, as Haskins burst on the scene to win the starting job for the Buckeyes and go on to a 50-touchdown season that catapulted
Dallas Cowboys Men Jersey him not only onto the national radar, but also into the top half of the first round of the NFL Draft. Haskins is adamant that his focus is solely on the long view -- not getting caught up in how soon he starts for Washington -- but, having covered the Washington beat for five years in a former life, I can a sure that screams for him to take over will begin from a long-starved fan base as soon as he makes his first highlight throw in camp."I just know I need to get better everyday for there even to be a competition, and at this point it's just me working hard, and doing as much extra work as I can to get ready," Haskins told me after an up-and-down practice. The whispers began back at the combine, when it became clear throughout circles that Washington owner Dan Snyder and his bra s were tantalized by all Haskins had to offer and were eyeing him in the first round. Could he finally be the quarterback to succeed here, and do what so many others deemed to be that cornerstone pa ser -- Heath Shuler, Patrick Ramsey, Robert Griffin III, to name just a few -- failed to accomplish? The fact that Haskins was mentored by a former member of the franchise -- Shawn Springs -- and moved from New Jersey to Maryland, attending the same school as Snyder's kids -- and wrote an article in the Bullis High School newspaper years ago proclaiming his intent to one day break the curse, just makes this plot all the more juicy.Haskins understands his place on the current pecking order, and will carry himself with cla s, and defer as required. He knows he is only just beginning to digest what goes into the modern pro pa sing game, and when I asked what he needs to focus on between now and the start of training camp, he was unequivocal."Everything, everything," he said moving down a line of military personnel who were seeking his autograph. "I want to be great, so I'm never going to be content with where I'm at. I want to wear a gold jacket one day and I know how hard that is to achieve. So I need to constantly work on everything -- how I am in the huddle, how I call plays, how I train and how I throw
Dallas Cowboys Golf Sporting Goods ." More NFL As he was finishing his answer an elderly gentleman asked Haskins to sign a full-sized Redskins helmet, making an unusual request that Haskins casually took in stride. "Could you sign, 'Simba will be king,' under your name?" the man asked, a nod to "The Lion King," and Haskins' boyhood nickname. Haskins eagerly obliged the request -- and then did so again when the same individual re-appeared back at the railing with what one could only a sume was a different helmet. The zanine s,
Dallas Cowboys T Shirts quirkine s, intense pre sure and decades-old burden of expectations that comes from being ordained as the next great Washington QB -- Haskins just may be impervious to it all.This, of course, is the stuff talk show hosts in this region dream about. The endle s debate about how long Haskins should sit and the relative merits of playing a 30-something, many-times castoff now on his sixth team will be the soundtrack to the summer for this fan base. The fact that all of this comes just one year after Washington made a bold trade for Alex Smith, then feted him with a ma sive contract to be the QB savior only to watch him suffer a career-threatening gruesome leg injury is lost on no one, and would be enough to make some young quarterbacks cower. Haskins is doing anything but that.His natural arm strength and accuracy were on display in individual drills, eliciting no shortage of commentary from coach Jay Gruden, who works very closely with the QBs along with senior offensive a sistant Matt Cavanaugh and offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell. "Oh yeah!" Gruden yelled after one strike early in practice, and, "Nice shot, nice shot," after another. But once team drills began it was nearly impo sible for either Keenum -- with what was being dubbed the starting offense but lacking much of Washington's powerful offensive line -- or Haskins to move the ball downfield much. "The defense is pretty good right now," Gruden said, mentioning those not present on the offense and the discrepancy in talent and experience between the units right now. "The defense if at full strength."(Worth noting that Wednesday's star on defense was rookie seventh-round pick , a corner out of James Madison who has three picks and has been a ballhawk throughout these spring practices; he was the culprit on Haskins' practice-ending pick).On several instances one of Washington's coaches has to yell out, "Check the huddle," and reset the offense with Haskins under center as he continues to learn all of the intricacies himself. "Dwayne is still proce sing everything," Gruden said. "Everything is coming in fast and he's trying to proce s the formations and the run concepts and the protections. So it's all new to him in terms of transferring what I say or what Coach O'Connell says to the huddle. There might be one key word that he me ses up, which is a critical -- 14 instead of 15 -- that's a big word. So we have to just clean him up a little bit and slow him up and be patient. But it will come for him, and it will
Trevon Diggs T Shirts come soon."For what it's worth, Haskins -- a traditional p
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