One advantage that a quarterback draft prospect usually has at his pro day, in contrast with the NFL Scouting Combine, is the opportunity to throw to familiar receivers.
That wasn’t exactly the case, however, for J.T. Barrett at Thursday’s Ohio State pro day.
Because Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, Johnnie Dixon and K.J. Hill all decided to stay in school for one more year – leaving no wide receivers among the Buckeyes’ 2018 NFL draft prospects – Ohio State had to get creative in finding receivers for Barrett to throw to Thursday.
Instead to throwing to wide receivers who he played with at Ohio State, Barrett’s wide receivers on Thursday consisted of two small-school products and a quality control coach.
While that might not have been ideal for Barrett, it opened up an opportunity for two receivers from lower-level Ohio schools that did not have their own pro days – Otterbein’s Hunter Joseph and Urbana’s Trevon Saunders, a Columbus native – to catch passes from Barrett while also going through a full battery of measurable tests alongside the rest of the Buckeyes’ draft prospects.
Trevon Saunders runs after a catch at Ohio State's pro day on Thursday.
Joseph, a native of New Philadelphia, Ohio, said he dreamed of playing for Ohio State as a kid growing up.
"The way the cards fell, it wasn’t in the deck of cards, but I did what I could out here, and I felt like I was one of the guys today," Joseph said.
Barrett’s other wide receiver for his throwing session was a member of the Ohio State football program last year – but not as a player. Former Ohio State wide receiver Brian Hartline, who participated in his own pro day in 2009, went on to play seven seasons in the NFL and is now a quality control coach for the Buckeyes, dusted off his cleats to run routes and catch passes from Barrett on Thursday.
Hartline said he did not expect his performance to lead to any NFL teams calling to convince him to come out of retirement. He did say, though, that he enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of the process for Barrett.
"It was just fun to go out there and help J.T.," Hartline said. "We were a little low on numbers, all of our guys thankfully came back, so it’s a good problem to have as a Buckeye. But J.T. was a little low on receivers, so he had to deal with me."
Outside of his actual former teammate in tight end Marcus Baugh, who also caught passes from Barrett as he looked to state his case as an NFL draft prospect during Thursday’s pro day, Barrett didn’t have much opportunity to practice with his pro day pass-catchers. Joseph and Saunders practiced with Barrett about a handful of times in the week leading up to pro day, but Hartline said he didn’t find out he would be needed for Barrett’s throwing session until Tuesday, meaning he had only one opportunity to practice with Barrett on Wednesday.
"I told Coach Meyer, 'A month’s notice would have been appreciated,'" Hartline said with a laugh, "but it was still no less a good blessing."
Barrett acknowledged after Thursday’s workout that having to get used to throwing to receivers he had never thrown to before added a challenge to his pro day preparation.
"That’s an uncommon type of deal," Barrett said. "You talk about, you’re fortunate enough at pro day to have receivers to come out with you, then you have already a chemistry with those guys. I was just trying to build that in a matter of six, seven days."
J.T. Barrett throws a pass to Hunter Joseph during Thursday's pro day.
That said, Barrett expressed his gratitude to those receivers for working with him and giving him targets to throw to.
"I think it went well, and I appreciate those guys doing it, because they didn’t have to," Barrett said.
Joseph was equally appreciative of Barrett, feeling that the Ohio State quarterback put him in a position to succeed on Thursday’s big stage.
"He’s a great leader," Joseph said of Barrett. "He kept me positive throughout the whole thing. Even whenever we were throwing. He was giving me tips, and just really kept me up through the whole process."
As for his individual performance in the workout, Barrett had some nice throws, including a 50-yard deep ball that hit Joseph in stride, but also had some missed throws, including an underthrown deep ball intended for Hartline. According to a passing chart compiled by cleveland.com’s Tim Bielik, Barrett attempted 52 total passes during Thursday’s workout and completed 43 of them.
Overall, though, Barrett said he thought he had a solid showing even though he wished he had a couple throws back.
"I feel comfortable with what I did," Barrett said. "I think it went well."
Joseph was satisfied with his showing, too.
"I could hang with the big dogs," Joseph said when asked what he thought he showed NFL scouts on Thursday. "Coming from a small school, it’s hard to get your name out there, so being on this stage with all 32 teams here really set me apart from maybe the other kids at the small schools that didn’t get this opportunity."
