Less than two years ago, Joe Burrow was a backup quarterback who transferred from Ohio State because he didn't know if he'd ever start a game for the Buckeyes.
On Monday night, Joe Burrow completed one of the greatest individual seasons in college football history and led LSU to a national championship.
The former Buckeye, who transferred from Ohio State in the summer of 2018 after falling behind Dwayne Haskins in that year's competition to be the Buckeyes' starting quarterback, capped off a season in which he went 15-0 and won the Heisman Trophy by leading LSU to a 42-25 win over Clemson in Monday night's College Football Playoff national championship game.
Burrow carved up Clemson's defense, throwing for 463 yards and five touchdowns and running for another 58 yards and a touchdown, to lead LSU to its first national championship since 2007. As one would expect, he was named the game's offensive MVP.
In the process, Burrow became the first quarterback in Football Bowl Subdivision history to throw 60 touchdown passes in a single season, all the while throwing for 5,671 yards for the year.
While this year's Ohio State team certainly had to wonder what could have been if it had defeated Clemson and had a chance to face off with Burrow in Monday night's game, he still has many supporters among the Buckeyes and their fans who were rooting for him to do what Ohio State couldn't and beat Clemson to win a national title.
And even though Burrow is now the king of the college football world, and likely soon to be selected by the Cincinnati Bengals with the No. 1 overall pick in April's NFL draft, don't expect the Athens, Ohio native to forget where he came from or the role that Ohio State – including current head coach Ryan Day and director of sports performance Mickey Marotti, among others – played in helping him get here.
“I wouldn’t be here without them,” Burrow said after winning the Heisman Trophy in December. “They helped me become the player I am today.”
