How Urban Meyer Plans to Manage the Imminent Ohio State Quarterback Battle

On many levels, the game of football is simple. Just like any other sport or competition, there are winners, and there are losers.

Sure, football is more complex on a variety of other levels, too. Everything from getting the best matchup in place for your skill players to disguising defensive coverages keep coaches awake at night. At times, it's a guessing game.

When it comes to Ohio State's looming quarterback derby, however, head coach Urban Meyer intends to dive headfirst into the competition completely open-minded.

"On purpose, I'm going to try to go into it with blinders on and let it go," Meyer said July 10 in Sandusky, Ohio, at a charity even benefitting the Ginn Foundation. "Watch practices, evaluate, chart everything and do a good job. Because I owe that to the families."

Meyer admitted he has no idea how the battle will play out once fall camp opens next month, but Cardale Jones, Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett are surely to have their games picked at and analyzed more than ever before.

"On purpose, I'm going to try to go into it with blinders on and let it go."– Urban Meyer on the QB battle

"I'll come up with some kind of system throughout training camp that we're going to chart everything that everyone does," Meyer said April 18, moments after Ohio State's Spring Game. "And we've kind of done it, but not to the degree that we're going to do it this year. Because you have to be right on now."

Meyer hasn't ruled out using a "specialty quarterback" like he did in 2006 at Florida when he led the Gators to the BCS National Championship. The potential of someone like Miller changing positions is also still possible, although it hasn't really been discussed (as far as we know). And, the fifth-year senior told the Columbus Dispatch July 9 he plans to enter camp trying to win his old job back.

"God put me on this earth ... to be an athlete, and the first thing in mind is being a quarterback, and just be smart about what I do," Miller said then.

Jones took all the snaps he could during spring practice with the first team offense as Miller rehabbed his shoulder and Barrett mended a broken ankle. It looks as if they'll all be there ready to show why they deserve the starting job this fall, barring a considerable change.

"It will be like any other year," Jones said Tuesday before heading to Los Angeles and the ESPY Awards. "We always competed within our unit room and we always competed within our team."

It looks like it'll come down to a decision made by Meyer, who admitted in March that it's "starting to eat away" at him. Things like that don't normally happen to the guy who owns three national championship rings and droves of other awards.

"Of the three individuals involved, the only bad thing I see is the fact that there's one or two of those individuals that aren't going to play a lot and that's terrible because all three of those guys have done major things for us," Meyer said. "They're not like freshmen or rookies, all three have made a major impact on this program. MAJOR impact. You go down in Ohio State history, those three names are going to be there."

It's an unprecedented situation not only for a team fresh off reaching the pinnacle of the sport, but also for the man in charge of heading the operation with three players who mean so much to him.

Miller led a talent-depleted 2012 squad to a 12-0 record and then 12 more wins the next season before getting hurt. Barrett, the cool, calm and collected Texan, withstood the pressure and hiccup of a Week 2 loss to Virginia Tech last season to become a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender. Jones led the Buckeyes to a Big Ten and national title.

To top it all off, the three of them appear to be best friends with one another, in addition to the others in the quarterback room.

The legacies the three already hold are impressive, which is why Meyer knows he must get this decision right. He must give each of them equal opportunity to show why they deserve to be slotted at No. 1 on the depth chart. He must not miss.

"It's harder if they weren't good players to be honest," Meyer said. "Try to move the football with a bad quarterback, you got a bad deal."

He's mostly right. He could decide to go with any of the three and have things work out, because other guys on the team don't believe giving the job to one over the others will divide it.

But with the magnitude of Ohio State, the magnitude of defending a title and the magnitude of the players involved, Meyer knows the gravity of the decision in front of him.

"This can't be, 'Well, I'm going with him because it's my gut feeling,'" Meyer said. "Those gut feelings it's got to be statistical analysis and data, backed up on who is going to play quarterback."

The analysis might seem overbearing, but in the head coach's mind, it's the best way to come to a conclusion.

"There's going to be a lot of people interested. I know you guys (in the media), but the families and the player, much more," Meyer said. "I want to be able to look those people in the eye and say this is where we're at and not be a shocker when it happens."