“He’s a young player, obviously, just learning the system for the first time,” Gruden said of Haskins on the day he named Keenum the Week 1 starte.r “As far as Dwayne is concerned, you just have got to continue to work and get these reps — mental reps, physical reps and just continue to build on his performance day after day.”

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Haskins is not yet ready to start a regular season game. Washington’s coaches are in agreement about this. He did, after all, start just one season in college at Ohio State, and the Redskins’ offense is a complicated one for newcomers to master. Everyone has been patient with him. Washington’s coaches also seem happy with his steady development.

One of the biggest things coaches look for in young quarterbacks is enthusiasm. Is the new player excited to learn? Is he engaged in meetings, asking questions and diligent in his preparation? As they got to know Haskins, the Redskins’ coaches noticed he quickly absorbed the playbook and the skills they were teaching.

Early in camp, Tim Rattay, the team’s new quarterback coach, noticed Haskins seemed discouraged, and so he said: “Let’s pick it up.” Haskins quickly responded, and Rattay realized that Haskins loves to compete — which, in the end, is exactly what coaches want from their quarterback, regardless of which plays aren’t going right.

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“Part of the problem is you have to expose guys to some struggles early on so that they can see how hard of a position it’s going to be,” offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell said at the end of training camp. “It almost ignites a work ethic and an understanding of: ‘I better do everything in my power to put this offense in the best possible position, and how do I do that?' It’s being prepared every single day.”

Haskins’s performances in preseason games have been mixed. He has made some spectacular throws, such as the 55-yard touchdown pass to Robert Davis in the team’s second preseason game or a perfectly placed 21-yard toss to rookie wide receiver Kelvin Harmon last week in Atlanta. But he also has missed high or long on several throws, which still speaks to his inexperience. He has completed 22 of 41 passes for 305 yards and a touchdown against two interceptions. They aren’t spectacular numbers but are mostly what his coaches expect from someone in his position.

Through the offseason workouts and the first weeks of training camp, the Redskins’ coaches watched Haskins closely in meetings, looking to see how much he retained from the previous day. If they had to reteach those lessons, it would signal a problem for the regular season, when the playbook changes with each week, depending on the opponent. But that hasn’t been an issue.

“It’s a learning curve for any quarterback,” Rattay said. “He’s doing a good job. He wants to learn. He’s eager to get better, and that’s all I can ask for.”

In addition to retaining a lot of the team’s playbook, Haskins has mostly been able to stifle the attention that has swirled around him as a first-round pick and former star at one of the country’s top programs. The team hasn’t put him in too many high-profile situations, limiting his interviews and putting him in a competition with Keenum and Colt McCoy, who are more experienced players. These things have kept him from being the focus of the camp. Not that it probably matters.

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“He’s such an even-keel guy and I think that’s going to bode well for him in his career, being steady, never too high, never being too low,” said O’Connell, who was the backup to Tom Brady in New England.

“Sometimes you want to push him to show some emotion,” O’Connell added. “[You want him] to show some of those young guys in the huddle with him that it’s okay for you to lead that group. It’s okay for you to lead by example.”

O’Connell pointed out that in college, Haskins had players such as wide receiver Terry McLaurin, whom the Redskins drafted two rounds after Haskins, to help with leading his Ohio State teammates. In the NFL, O’Connell said, the pressure will be on Haskins to lead Washington himself. So much power is placed in the quarterback’s hands, they have no choice but to display it.

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“It just has to happen, especially in a system like ours where so much runs through the quarterback, both mentally and physically,” O’Connell said. “That’s all part of the process for him. But it’s [also] one little sliver that you are talking about, and there are 50 others just like it. That’s just the nature of what the reality is right now.”