Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett goes from also-ran to greatest asset

CHICAGO — A year ago, something was wrong with J.T. Barrett.

He was coming off an injury, sure, but it was more than that. It was something mental, something sort of inexplicable for someone who had finished fifth in Heisman Trophy balloting the season before.

“He did not have a great training camp last year for whatever reason,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said Tuesday at Big Ten football media days. “There was a lot of distraction with Cardale (Jones), with who is going to be playing quarterback — and he was still overcoming a pretty serious injury that took a long time to heal. So, he didn't have the spring reps that he needed.”

Which translated to fall camp and Jones winning the starting quarterback job entering the season.

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“I was thinking too much,” Barrett said Tuesday. “I like playing fast, but I wasn’t even doing that. I was sitting there, thinking and trying to break down every potential situation. Honestly, I have nobody else to blame but myself. Cardale was better than me.”

But that didn’t last. Jones was inconsistent, and Ohio State struggled more than it should have to win games — so much so that Barrett took over the starting job by Week 8 before he, too, had his ups and downs and a November loss to Michigan State doomed the Buckeyes.

Now, almost a year after that disastrous fall camp, Barrett is the obvious starter. He’s had all offseason to prepare physically and mentally. He’s been named a team captain for the second time, a veteran leader on a roster depleted by graduation and early departures to the NFL. The Buckeyes have three returners on offense, and are prepared to start inexperienced players all over the field.

In 2015, J.T. Barrett was part of the biggest question that plagued Ohio State’s football team. This season he is its greatest unquestioned asset.

“Talent, speed and athleticism will not be an issue; it's how they perform,” Meyer said. “That's where J.T. is going to be so critical because you're going to see a lot of wide eyes.”

Barrett, a 6-foot-2 redshirt junior dual-threat quarterback, remembers what that feels like. He was thrust into a starting role in 2014 after two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Braxton Miller suffered a shoulder injury during fall camp.

“I was trying to earn my stripes — I knew the tradition Ohio State had, especially at the quarterback position,” Barrett said. “It came so fast. … I don’t even know if I enjoyed it. It just kind of hits you in the face.

“I was just flying by the seat of my pants.”

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Barrett expects many of the players around him this season to feel the same. Last season’s squad had experience and leadership in every position group, Barrett said, making this fall a unique challenge. Not only will Barrett lead the quarterbacks and in turn the offense, his numerous teammates who are stepping into more significant roles will rely on him to set an example and the agenda.

That can, at times, be a heavy burden.

“What part do you enjoy?” Barrett said. “Playing quarterback at Ohio State, there are definitely a lot of expectations and a great responsibility I don’t take for granted. I feel like you don’t really enjoy it until the work is over. You’re talking about sometime in January.

“Right now, it’s all work and all ball.”

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Left unsaid: It’s not all about the nation’s most intriguing quarterback race anymore. Or Jones. Or defending a national championship, and all the hoopla that accompanies that.

“Last year was just a storm,” Buckeyes linebacker Raekwon McMillan said. “This year you can see J.T. is way more focused about what’s going on around him. He’s our quarterback. He’s our starting quarterback and there’s no question about it, so he’s just way more focused on the game and getting our team to where it needs to be.”

Or as Meyer put it, last year, “it was not his team.”

Now? It is.

“He’s more than ready,” Meyer said.