Taylor Decker stood in front of his teammates before they headed out for Halloween weekend, the leader he's grown into as an Ohio State football captain.
One of the eldest members of Urban Meyer's 2015 squad, Decker told younger players of the need to have fun during the time off, but not to do anything stupid. Was redshirt sophomore quarterback J.T. Barrett, also a team captain, one of the players standing alongside Decker to establish the narrative of good behavior before a bye week?
"I would not like to answer that question," said Decker, the lone Ohio State player made available to the media Monday.
Reading between the lines provides an affirmation that Barrett spoke in a similar token with Decker and other leaders of the nation's top-ranked college football team prior to the off weekend.
Yet, it was Barrett who found himself stopped at an OVI checkpoint early Saturday morning, caught in the web of a mistake that landed him a one-game suspension and a potential forfeiture of his summer financial aid at Ohio State.
"He came over my house and I love J.T., I’m not ashamed to say that, he’s like my child," head coach Urban Meyer said. "He’s one of my favorite guys I’ve ever got to coach. J.T.’s going to have to deal with something that’s he’s never had to deal with."
“He could just be pissed about it and say, 'Oh yeah, I got screwed.' But he's accepting responsibility, he knows he did something wrong and he's going to deal with the consequences from that.”– Taylor Decker on J.T. Barrett
The judgment of Barrett's character and decision-making is bound to be dissected hundreds of times over by any person with an opinion, yet it was the first sophomore captain the the program's illustrious history who did his best to be proactive about the situation he'd just put himself in.
"He came to my house on whatever day that was, the next day. Blown away, devastated," Meyer said. "All his concern was about the team, as you could imagine. As long as I’ve known J.T. it’s been about the team."
Meyer went on to say that Barrett told him he thought he was fine when he jumped in his 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer to give someone else a ride home.
"I will tell you that, he said, ‘It didn’t even cross my mind. I don’t drink much,’" Meyer said. "I said, ‘Why would you do that?’ and he said, ‘Coach, it didn’t even cross my mind because I didn’t have that much."
However much alcohol Barrett consumed resulted in his blood-alcohol content blipping above the legal limit. It could alter the momentum Meyer and Ohio State's been so desperately trying to build before heading into its toughest month of the season, November, with games against Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan State and Michigan looming.
"We haven't really had a ton of issues on this team this year," Decker said. "The bye week, I'd thought we'd made it clear that we shouldn't have any and then for it to happen for a guy like him, (stunned is) a perfect word for it. Again, it just shows that none of us are perfect and one lapse in judgement can really cost you."
It costs Barrett at least one game in 2015 and thrusts Cardale Jones back into the spotlight again at the highest-profile position in the sport. Barrett's remorse was noted by both Meyer and Decker Monday, but it won't allow him to suit up Saturday with his teammates against Minnesota.
"He wasn't worried about himself. He's going to be fine. He'll handle it fine," Decker said. "He's worried about what it does to everybody else. While his act was selfish, right now he's taking a selfless approach to it. I think that's important that even though it is about him, he's not trying to make it about him."
But for the time being, it is all about Barrett, who is set to appear before a judge Friday morning. Decker said he addressed the team Monday morning, albeit with a different tone than he did prior to the weekend — if he in fact did tell his teammates to be careful in the coming days.
It's a horrible mistake that won't go away any time soon. And, according to Meyer, nearly cost Barrett his captaincy.
"I visited with some other players with that and my initial reaction was he might," Meyer said. "It was very strong with the leadership with the team. It hasn’t yet."
How Barrett responds in the immediate future is sure to go a long way to determining if he remains in the top-10 percent of leaders Meyer's mentioned before. It also will dictate whether or not he gets his aid for summer term back.
But for now, Barrett's handling his current state of affairs the same way he did before Halloween night, trying to push the attention off himself and back on his team as it prepares to host the Golden Gophers Saturday at 8 p.m.
"He could just be pissed about it and say, 'Oh yeah, I got screwed,'" Decker said. "But he's accepting responsibility, he knows he did something wrong and he's going to deal with the consequences from that.
"I think for him to step up and man-to-man call one of his teammates, I think that's big. Not a lot of guys would have done that," he added. "He took it upon himself to call leaders of the team. I know he called Pat, too, because I live with Pat, just to explain. He wanted to tell us from his mouth what happened. When I spoke to him, he said, 'I'm going to be fine.' He was more worried about about us and himself. That's J.T.: Selfless."
