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By Steve DelVecchio
Urban Meyer has a difficult decision to make at quarterback this offseason, and J.T. Barrett’s father has some advice for the Ohio State coach that may surprise you.
If you ask Joe Barrett, Braxton Miller deserves to be the starting quarterback heading into training camp.
“Of course I would love to see my kid start, but for me it always goes back to who was first,” Barrett’s father told Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch over the weekend. “If Braxton hadn’t gotten hurt, I would still be waiting for my baby to get the chance to play. I was thankful J.T. got that chance … and we were all blessed that he was ready to compete, but like I have told everybody, I don’t want to see my kid take a position because of the misfortune of someone else.
“In other words, Braxton should get that position back, then everybody else should go try to take it from him.”
You’ve all heard the story by now — Miller, a clear-cut Heisman Trophy favorite, gets injured in training camp. He’s replaced by Barrett, who emerges as a Heisman candidate by setting a Big Ten record with 45 total touchdowns before suffering an injury of his own. Enter Cardale Jones, who leads the Buckeyes on an improbable College Football Playoff run and helps them win a national championship.
So what now? What Meyer will likely do is split first-team reps evenly among his three quarterbacks throughout camp. The only way to be fair is to have an open competition, and one of the three Buckeyes studs has already said he wants it that way. No matter what happens, two very, very good quarterbacks aren’t going to be getting as much playing time as they would elsewhere.
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