Taylor Decker took a moment to gather himself, sucked in a stream of air and then finally answered a question on how his Ohio State coaches plan to decide the imminent quarterback battle on hand in Columbus.
"I don’t know and not to be too blunt, I don’t really care," Decker said Thursday at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. "I have full faith that we’ll be successful with whoever steps in with that position."
It makes complete sense for one of Ohio State's senior leaders to express his feelings in this short, somewhat dull fashion. After all, the 2014 Buckeyes proved Decker's point 100 percent true. It didn't matter who played quarterback for them — they won the first-ever College Football Playoff national championship.
Coach Meyer has won a lot more games and knows a lot more football than I do so I’m just gonna go out and do my job and do what I’m supposed to do."– Taylor Decker
Urban Meyer's let a bit of light in on how he and his staff plan to break down and analyze the candidates at quarterback for 2015, especially now that Braxton Miller is heading to H-back.
"The problem with trying to get three quarterbacks ready, how do you get one ready? It's impossible if they haven't played," Meyer said Thursday. "The good thing is, we're not in that situation."
Ohio State has live game tape on both J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones to draw conclusions from, and their head coach said they plan on charting everything from weight room leadership to moxie in the huddle once camp opens Monday.
The thing is, the other guys around them on the team aren't exactly allotting their precious energy toward worrying about the whole process.
"It doesn’t change my job at all," Decker said. "I love all those guys, but at the end of the day who’s at quarterback doesn’t change the fact that I’m gonna be blocking a defensive end almost every play."
"You know what, maybe (Meyer) should put a panel together with a few players," added senior linebacker Joshua Perry. "Call Taylor and Adolphus (Washington) over here, we’ll get a few other guys too and we can put names in a hat, draw straws or whatever it is. It would be fun.”
Perry, of course, was joking, but both he and Decker were trying to bring some pep to a conversation they knew was coming on behalf of their able-bodied teammates at quarterback.
"They have their approach to how they pick their quarterbacks and they haven’t let me in on that and they haven’t let anyone in on that," Decker said. "Their approach has worked. It’s not a theory, it’s a testimony because last season we saw it. I’m not sure, but I trust whatever they do completely."
He doesn't have a choice, but Meyer's 38-3 record at the helm in Columbus speaks plenty to the fact that he knows what he's doing. That's the biggest reason his players don't put too much stock into how exactly the 2015 team's starting quarterback will be chosen.
It is a huge deal, but not ultimately one the players must act on.
"This is — to think about this is not — I don't want to say overwhelming. But when you talk about the history of Ohio State football, every one of their names has a prominent role in that history book," Meyer said. "And that's real."
There are just better things for the players that don't play quarterback to do on a regular basis.
"There’s gonna be so much speculation and I know whoever they choose there’s gonna be a ton of criticism either way," Decker said. "Like I said, you just have to trust in the system. Coach Meyer has won a lot more games and knows a lot more football than I do so I’m just gonna go out and do my job and do what I’m supposed to do."
