And once he shook some game-opening jitters, O’Hagan developed poise, a sensitivity to the defenses he faced that spoke to the instincts that can’t be taught. We’ve seen it before.
In the post-game press conference, O’Hagan was affable, deflecting questions with a grin and passing credit to his teammates, but as he talked, there was a sense of continuity with last season.
Maybe it was that Murphy had just praised his quarterback up and down. Maybe it was the fact that we’d all just seen O’Hagan scramble for big yards to lead Harvard downfield. Maybe it’s that with his helmet off and his uniform caked with dirt and soaked with sweat, O’Hagan bears more than a passing resemblance to his predecessor.
“I watched last year from the sidelines, all the practices, all the games. The way he does that sort of thing baffles me, and I try to do my best up there,” O’Hagan said
He’s taken some cues from Fitzpatrick, and, as premature and as unfair to either player it is to say, it showed on Saturday.
—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.