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Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett Is Most Impressive Player In College Football

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By @atylerbrett

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Jesse Johnson – USA TODAY Sports

As the college football season hits the home stretch, there are a number of teams and countless players who have put their best foot forward in 2014.

The College Football Playoff picture is starting to come into focus as conference title races heat up and the finalists for some of college football’s highest individual honors, including the Heisman Trophy, are separating themselves as special, standout players. But this season, no team and no player has been as impressive under fire as the young quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes, J.T. Barrett.

Coming into the season, expectations were sky high in Columbus with Urban Meyer looking to take the Buckeyes to the next level in 2014. After a disappointing two-game losing streak to close out the 2013 season in the Big Ten title game and the Discover Orange Bowl (Meyer’s first two losses as head coach of the Buckeyes), Ohio State was an early favorite to win not only the conference title this fall but also earn a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff. Before the team had taken a snap of the season, however, those hopes took a major hit.

Braxton Miller was a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate after accounting for 3,162 yards of total offense and 36 touchdowns last season. His return for a senior campaign was a cornerstone of the expectations for Ohio State as he was supposed to be the driving force behind the Buckeyes’ push for a national championship. But during fall camp, Miller injured his shoulder throwing the football in what would turn out to be a season-ending, non-contact injury. Many believed that the injury was not only the end of Miller in 2014, but of the Buckeyes’ chances of competing for the College Football Playoff as well.

Without Miller, the team turned the team over to Barrett, a redshirt freshman, to take his first-ever college snaps for a team that had national title aspirations to start the year. While Barrett had been pegged by many as Ohio State’s quarterback of the future, that future wasn’t supposed to happen until at least 2015. What could Ohio State fans realistically expect from an untested quarterback who was being thrust into the starting job at the last possible moment?

As it turns out, outside of an unfortunate hiccup against the Virginia Tech Hokies in Week 2, Barrett has been able to take this Ohio State team to possibly greater heights than the team expected to reach with Miller under center. Barrett has accounted for an average of 312.7 yards per game of total offense and an FBS-leading 38 total touchdowns (tied with Marcus Mariota of the Oregon Ducks) as the Buckeyes rank as the No. 5 scoring offense in the country. Few have been as impressive over the first 10 starts of their career as Barrett has been. Miller accounted for just 15 total touchdowns and former Ohio State great Terrelle Pryor managed just 14 through their first 10 starts.

In recent years, we have seen first-year players make instant impacts, particularly at the quarterback position. Johnny Manziel took the country by storm in 2012 and became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. Last year, Jameis Winston one-upped Johnny Football winning not only the Heisman, but also the BCS National Championship. Manziel and Winston will go down as two of the highest-impact freshmen to play college football but neither matched what Barrett has done through their first 10 starts, scoring just 33 and 31 total touchdowns, respectively.

And while his impact on the field has been great this season, his impact on the Ohio State record books will be even greater before he’s done. Last week against the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Barrett set an Ohio State record with 189 yards rushing, highlighted by an 86-yard touchdown run, the longest by a Buckeye quarterback ever. When Barrett found the endzone for the fourth time in the game, he set the Ohio State record for touchdowns in a season, breaking Miller’s previous mark.

But Barrett isn’t done just yet. His 29 touchdown passes is just one off the all-time mark set by Troy Smith back in 2006 when he won the Heisman Trophy. He also needs just 183 yards of total offense to break Miller’s school best 3,310 yards in a season set back in 2012. His current quarterback rating of 171.6, if it holds, would be a school record as well. For a player that wasn’t even supposed to start in 2014, Barrett is making a huge impact.

The most impressive part of it all is that he is doing it in a surprising fashion. Barrett was expected to have a higher ceiling as a passer than Miller but nobody expected him to be able to run like his predecessor. While the freshman freely admits that he doesn’t have the same breakaway speed as the quarterback he replaced, he’s proven capable of making plays with his legs. He currently ranks second on the team in carries (136) and yards (771) to go with a team-high nine rushing touchdowns. His efficiency in the passing game and elusiveness in the running game have made Barrett a breakout star for the Buckeyes this fall.

In fact, Barrett’s rise to stardom this fall could create some drama for the Buckeyes in 2015. Miller has vowed to return to Columbus for one more run under center for the Ohio State offense. For two years, Miller has been the unquestioned leader of Meyer’s offensive attack and the cornerstone for the Buckeyes’ success. But can the team honestly consider benching a quarterback coming off the best statistical season in school history for one coming off a non-contact shoulder injury simply because of seniority?

Luckily, that’s a question that Meyer and the Buckeyes won’t have to answer until next fall. For now, they can continue to ride the hot hand of Barrett, who will be looking to lead Ohio State to their ninth straight win this weekend against the Indiana Hoosiers. After that, it will be the Big Ten Championship game and then a possible place in the College Football Playoff for their shot at a national title. The Buckeyes are on track to accomplish everything they set out to do this season thanks to the incredible debut season of Barrett.

When the team lost Miller, there were plenty of people who thought that Ohio State was lost as well in terms of contending for the 2014 national title. But Barrett stepped into the spotlight and exceeded all expectations as he has exploded to become one of the best quarterbacks in the entire country and the most impressive college football player of the year.

You can follow me on Twitter @ATylerBrett, on Facebook and on Google.

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