Clemson senior safety Jadar Johnson, never one to shy away from criticizing opponents, made headlines Tuesday when he labeled Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett as a "not very accurate" passer with questionable arm strength.
While in front of media, Barrett presents the detached demeanor of a high school algebra teacher who checked out two decades ago. But as seen in promotional video snippets of him rampaging through locker rooms to motivate his teammates, he's a fiery competitor.
Thursday, he responded to Johnson's criticism in typical Barrett fashion.
From the Fiesta Bowl media day transcript:
Your thoughts on what Jadar Johnson said?
So I really wasn't – there wasn't a lot to it, I feel like. He has his own opinion, which I'm not mad at. I'm comfortable in my skills and what I'm able to do. If he feels like I'm not the best quarterback they went against, I mean, that's just how he feels.
I don't have a feeling towards that one way or the other. I mean, I'm okay, really. Like, it wasn't I feel like a lot to talk about. I saw what he said.
There's probably some people that feel like that in the media, which is cool, too. They have the right to their own opinion. It's not for me to fight my stance. I know how I feel about myself, comfortable in my skills and the guys we have on our offense and our team.
So that's how it is.
Indeed, that is how it is. But Barrett's teammates noticed and took it as motivation. Barrett said he doesn't buy into "bulletin board material" before alluding to one of the most famous bulletin board material moment of the 2016 season.
Some of his teammates were – even his teammates were saying that's something that made them mad and motivated them. Does that motivate you?
I mean, that's like it's not anything crazy, I feel like. It's not like we're going to hang it up on the game-day bulletin board and this is what this guy said – like, we're okay. We're good. You know what I'm saying? We're good.
Somebody in the past says something about our defense, and we saw how that went. That's how we feel about that. We're okay. If you want to talk, that's okay. We still have to go play the game. That's what I feel like.
Pour one out tonight for Austin Kendall, the former Ohio State fan turned Oklahoma backup QB who poked the Silver Bullets and is now only known as "somebody in the past."
