If you know anything about J.T. Barrett, you know he's a pretty serene, tranquil and hard-working individual. He hardly lets his emotions out, but when he does, it's usually in good spirits.
Barrett was locked in an arms race with one of his best friends, fellow Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones, all summer long, into fall camp and then through the first seven games of 2015. It wasn't until Saturday at Rutgers that the 2014 Big Ten Quarterback and Freshman of the Year earned his first start of this season.
Wednesday, he wanted the media to know he's been paying attention to the discussions about Jones' arm strength being his most favorable asset, while Barrett lags behind in the area. After all, Jones connected on touchdown passes of 39, 44, 42 and 47 yards to Devin Smith against Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon. Forty-five and 50-yard passes came in the title game against the Ducks, too, both to Devin and Corey Smith.
But, hey, Barrett is perfectly capable of doing that, too.
"Last year when I was playing, how many deep balls did I throw to Devin? All the deep balls that we had were to Devin," Barrett said after practice (fast forward to the 45-second mark in the video above to see it). "I threw them, but I guess since I'm not 6-foot-5, 250 (pounds) I didn't have a strong arm or something. I don't know what that was about."
“I was just like that's crazy to me because if you go back and watch film, I threw a lot of deep balls. Were some underthrown? Absolutely. That was earlier in the year. I got better as the year went on, but I was like, 'Man, do I have a weenie arm?' In the offseason it was in my head all the time lifting weights, because I feel like I can throw the ball deep. I felt like y'all were talking bad about me.”– J.T. Barrett
In 2014, Barrett, who is 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, connected on 64 passes of 15 or more yards, and 28 of 25 or more yards. Perhaps the most noteworthy one to Smith was in a 49-37 victory at Michigan State Nov. 8, when Barrett rifled a strike on 3rd-and-23 for 44 yards and a first down.
"What I saw was 3rd-and-23 and really the play was, 'Throw the ball to Devin downfield,'" Barrett said. "We completed the ball and it was like 40 yards downfield and I don't know."
Now, Barrett said all this with a smile and the precursor that Ohio State's offense didn't really change when he went down with a broken ankle in the regular season finale against Michigan and Jones took over.
"With that, it didn't change when I got hurt. Like I said, Cardale was throwing the ball to Devin Smith, who was a great deep ball catcher and it wasn't anything different," Barrett said. "The same thing this year. We didn't have new plays in so Cardale could throw the ball farther down the field. It was just our best plays worked within that. Nothing's changed."
Urban Meyer's credited Barrett's work over this past summer to build his upper body during his rehab from the broken ankle, as well as his touch on passes down the field.
Well, there's a reason behind that noticeable difference, too.
"I was just like that's crazy to me because if you go back and watch film, I threw a lot of deep balls. Were some underthrown? Absolutely," Barrett said. "That was earlier in the year. I got better as the year went on, but I was like, 'Man, do I have a weenie arm?' In the offseason it was in my head all the time lifting weights, because I feel like I can throw the ball deep. I felt like y'all were talking bad about me."
Barrett admitted he'd been holding this inside for a while, which was a bit of an understatement to say the least. He finished fifth in the 2014 Heisman Trophy voting, set a Big Ten record for touchdowns in a season with 45, but watched from the sidelines as Jones led the Buckeyes down the stretch to the Big Ten, Sugar Bowl and national championships.
"I threw deep balls the whole year," Barrett said. "And they're like, 'Oh, Cardale, he's got a strong arm and can throw it deeper down field.' What? What are you talking about? I did the same thing."
Jones and Barrett are entirely different personalities, players and leaders. That much has been documented. But a rant by Barrett is something the media's hardly witnessed in his year-plus of playing for the Buckeyes. Ohio State is off this weekend before hosting Minnesota Nov. 7, but Barrett had to get this off his chest.
And, to make sure everyone knew he wasn't talking down to Jones: He's just somewhat different of a player, but Meyer's offense is what it is.
"The thing is, when a play breaks down and somebody's 80 yards downfield, am I going to throw it? Absolutely not. Cardale's going to throw it," Barrett said. "I feel like that's different. But in our base offense and throwing the deep ball, that's part of it. We're going to take shots. We just gotta complete them and that's what we are. That's not anything different."
