Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett calmly embracing move into the spotlight, At a family reunion in Beaumont, Texas, last summer, J.T. Barrett was excited to tell anyone who would listen about his upcoming second season in the Ohio State football program. He was coach Urban Meyer’s first recruit at the position. He had learned from the habits of talented veterans while taking a redshirt the previous fall. He worked hard all offseason, and he planned to continue doing so during preseason camp. And that, Barrett told his family, might get him right where he wanted to be.
As the second-string quarterback.
So he could hold field goal attempts.
“Of course you got the uncle that tells you, ‘Hey man, Braxton ain’t all this, ain’t all that,’” Barrett says. “I’m like, you have no idea. You just see Saturdays. Braxton, he’s a baller. I was letting them know, hey, I’m trying to be realistic with myself.”
Braxton is Braxton Miller. He was the reigning Big Ten offensive player of the year who was supposed to be Ohio State’s starting quarterback, taking every snap that mattered and leaving the extra points and mop-up duties to someone else. Then Miller suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in August, which meant someone else became the only option the Buckeyes had to salvage a season defined by title aspirations. And that someone else was Joe Thomas Barrett, who now has a vastly different story to tell.
The 6-foot-1, 225-pound redshirt freshman has done exactly what a backup is intended to do: He has saved everything. Barrett is the fourth-most efficient passer in the nation, pacing the country’s No. 4 scoring offense and keeping Ohio State’s playoff hopes alive entering a Saturday showdown with defending league champion Michigan State. The Spartans’ rock-crushing defense is, by far, the most imposing group Barrett has faced. Failure to solve it likely ruins championship dreams. But, then, what is there to lose for someone who wasn’t expected to be here?
“We’re all in it with him,” Ohio State wide receiver Evan Spencer says. “We really hoped for him to do as well can he can, but the success he’s having so far this year, I guess it’s a little bit of a bonus, if that makes sense.”
That part makes sense. The part in which Barrett leads the Big Ten in total offense (294 yards per game) and passer efficiency (170.0) while leading the nation in passing touchdown percentage (23 scoring tosses on 207 attempts, or 11.1 percent) -- all that doesn’t necessarily compute as cleanly. It most likely owes to Ohio State taking care not to overwhelm its first-time starter and instead going through the “baby steps” of preparing Barrett, as the quarterback puts it. The Texas native’s temperate personality helps defuse both pressure applied by defenses and expectations heaped upon a player in his position.
Barrett has a precocious comfort with everything the job entails. Therefore Ohio State is missing Miller, but not missing much. “I know Braxton and knew him prior to his days at Ohio State -- they’re very similar,” Illinois coach Tim Beckman says. “Both compete at a great level. J.T. has good touch on those intermediate routes, those 15-to-20 yard routes down the field, the flow routes that Urban has always run. He’s done a really good job putting it on the money when he needs to. He’s playing at a big level right now.”
“As an athlete I feel like Miller was better,” Michigan State linebacker Taiwan Jones says, “but … Barrett fits in that offense better and he can control the game better.”
