Coming out of spring practice in 2015, nothing was certain about Ohio State's quarterbacks. J.T. Barrett and Braxton Miller were both injured and Cardale Jones — fresh off of leading the Buckeyes to a national championship — was the only healthy signal caller to go through spring practice.
At this time one year ago, Ohio State's starting quarterback was the biggest mystery in all of college football. Nobody really knew who Urban Meyer would go with to start the season.
That's certainly not the case coming out of this spring, which ended Saturday following Ohio State's annual spring game. Barrett is going to be the starting quarterback for the Buckeyes in 2016.
But despite the fact Barrett was dealing with a shorthanded offense for the majority of spring — wide receivers Noah Brown, Corey Smith, Curtis Samuel and Dontre Wilson were all either out or limited, while starting offensive linemen Pat Elflein and Billy Price were also somewhat restricted due to a high number of reps — Meyer said Barrett was "having a great spring."
He was so-so in the spring game. Playing behind an offensive line mixed with first- and second-team guys and without his top-four wide receivers against the first-team defense, Barrett was 13-for-22 passing for 102 yards and a pair of interceptions. But Jones isn't looking over Barrett's shoulder this year and an average spring game performance by the redshirt junior really means very little in the long run.
Barrett is Ohio State's starting quarterback.
The bigger buzz this spring actually surrounded a position where the Buckeyes have been forced to rely on quite a bit in recent years: backup quarterback.
After a strong performance this spring capped off by a solid showing in the spring game, redshirt freshman Joe Burrow seems to have seized Ohio State's No. 2 quarterback spot behind Barrett — for now. Redshirt sophomore Stephen Collier is currently the Buckeyes' No. 3 guy coming out of spring.
Burrow dazzled at times during Saturday's spring game, particularly with his touch on the deep ball. He finished the game 14-for-23 passing for 196 yards and three touchdowns and one interception. Burrow led the Gray team to a 28-17 victory and showed that if Ohio State needs him at any point this season, he will be ready to go.
"Joe Burrow has been coming on," Meyer said. "He was a guy that last year I had my concerns just with arm strength to release, twitch, ability to run the ball. But he's gotten better and better."
But while Burrow currently has a firm grip on that No. 2 spot behind Barrett, it's far from a sure thing he will stay there. Collier will continue to chase him, but Ohio State also has another quarterback arriving in June.
Dwayne Haskins — a highly-touted quarterback prospect from Potomoc, Maryland — will soon be on campus to push both Burrow and Collier as Barrett's backup for the season.
“I feel like I did what I need to do this spring," Burrow said after the spring game. "But then I have a long way to go and I’m going to have to keep working going into the fall.”
For the first time in a couple of seasons, Ohio State knows who its starting quarterback will be coming out of spring practice. But remember, this is a program that has had to use the backup more than a lot of other major programs around the country the last two years.
So while Barrett is the starter and one of the top signal callers in all of college football, Meyer knows there can't be a drop-off after that.
"If you're going to play quarterback at Ohio State, you need to be a Heisman candidate," Meyer said. "If you play quarterback at Ohio State in this offense, you have to be a Heisman candidate or we're going to suffer.
"We're not going to change our standards — and that was a message all week to our players. We certainly don't lower our stands just because a player moves on; that's not what this place is all about."
