In front of a camera, J.T. Barrett is a quiet soul. If you watch any hype video released by the Ohio State football program, you know he can get intense and fired up when necessary—but usually, the redshirt junior is even-keeled, reserved and hardly shows emotion.
But Barrett couldn't help but smile when asked by a reporter about his reaction when he learned the Buckeyes made the 2016 College Football Playoff.
“Obviously excited. I was telling Adam [Widman], our media guy, I'm actually a healthy body,” Barrett said on Sunday. “As you see, I'm not on a scooter or anything.”
The College Football Playoff is still in its infancy, entering only its third year. Ohio State punched a ticket to two of those three postseason affairs, including this year. In 2014, however, it was Cardale Jones, not Barrett, who led the Buckeyes to a historic upset of top-ranked Alabama and eventually the national championship.
Barrett sat and watched on a scooter with a broken ankle, an injury he suffered in the regular-season finale against Michigan. Then a redshirt freshman thrust into the spotlight as starting quarterback in place of an injured Braxton Miller, Barrett thrived, set records and won Freshman and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year in 2014. Then he had to sit and watch his understudy win the three biggest games of the season—the Big Ten Championship over Wisconsin, Sugar Bowl against Alabama and national title game against Oregon.
“I think it's a blessing just to be healthy throughout the long season, just to be able to play, man, it's crazy,” Barrett said. “I'm thankful for that.”
That is something Ohio State fans should be thankful for considering the injury history of quarterbacks that run Urban Meyer's system. Tim Tebow, Braxton Miller, Alex Smith—they all suffered various bumps and bruises that caused them to miss time during their respective careers. But Barrett has remarkably stayed healthy throughout the duration of the 2016 season and now with his team on the cusp of a New Year's Eve date with Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl as part of the National Semifinals, his moment is here.
“It's truly a blessing. It's one of the things when I first came here, wrote down my goals,” Barrett said. “One of them was to win a national championship. We won one, but I didn't get to play in it because I broke my ankle.”
Meyer hasn't been shy to call Barrett "one of the best leaders he's ever been around" since the quarterback took over the reins for Miller ahead of the 2014 season. That role magnified during the postseason that year, with Barrett helping prepare Jones as best he could even though he rolled around practice on four wheels with his leg in a cast.
“He was an incredible contributor to our playoff run two years ago, even when he wasn't playing,” Meyer said on Sunday. “Obviously, he had a great year as a redshirt freshman. His leadership skills, once again, his ability to help Cardale for those big games was remarkable.”
Now it is Barrett's turn. Meyer looked to him and other leaders like Raekwon McMillan and Pat Elflein shortly after the Buckeyes beat Notre Dame to cap their 2015 season. He named the three of them captains for the 2016 season just six days after that game ended. With an extremely young roster in the fold, that was almost an afterthought.
As the quarterback, however, Barrett is the face of the team. His statistics and past accolades speak for themselves (100 career touchdowns and 26-3 career record as a starter, to name a few) but due to the injury Barrett has only played in one postseason contest in his career. That was Ohio State's 44-28 victory over the Fighting Irish in last year's Fiesta Bowl.
“I'm anxious to watch him prepare for this big-time game.”– Urban Meyer on J.T. Barrett
While Barrett's win-loss record and other statistics stake his claim as a highly successful and productive college quarterback, the Texan doesn't want to think about them until he is “retired from playing ball and sitting at the house somewhere in the south.” As the Buckeyes open Fiesta Bowl practice this week, the Tigers are the only thing on his mind. His chance to prove his mettle against the nation's best on the game's biggest stage is finally in front of him—healthy body and all.
“Right now the main thing is to win this game against Clemson. I think that's what I'm about,” Barrett said. “I think at the end of the day that's all that really matters, is are you able to win football games? I feel like, you know, there's players that may have put up a lot of points, but at the end of the day, the team, they don't win.
“That's what we talk about at the end of the day, is are you a winner or did your team lose. I feel like I'm a winner. I'm worried about winning this game against Clemson and making sure we get everybody on the same page, go out there and play our best.”
Barrett and his head coach know what it takes to win in the College Football Playoff, having a front row seat two years ago when the Buckeyes rose to the sport's zenith. Now the two men dive headfirst into preparation for a national semifinal, with one remaining on the sideline and the other smiling after being dealt an opportunity he didn't have last time.
“J.T. is like a son to me. I love him. He knows it. We're very close,” Meyer said. “I'm anxious to watch him prepare for this big-time game.”
“Now that we're in the mix for it all, I'm a healthy body, just thankful for the blessing God has gave me,” Barrett said.
