The concept of college football (and major college sports in general) being a business is not a new one. You can go back to the days of Chic Harley for examples of this, but more recently it's been made pretty clear through the hundreds of millions of dollars that exchanges hands at Ohio State alone, mostly due to the efforts of a relatively small group of players in just two major sports.
But this isn't another article haranguing you about the necessity of paying players; it's more about how coaches manage said players when they have a mindset that many fans may not be quite ready to wrap their minds around.
It's @JT_theQB4th's final business trip to Ann Arbor. He and the #Buckeyes look to make it 6 straight wins over ichigan. pic.twitter.com/QqUbB4UYkl
— ABC6 (@wsyx6) November 25, 2017
Because this is a job, not some vague REO Speedwagon concept that gets someone pumped to slip on the New Balances and do some yardwork, but a grueling, difficult task that puts players through a ridiculous amount of physical and emotional rigor to hopefully, maybe, accomplish some pretty neat stuff.
As far as I'm concerned, that's the best definition of a job that you're going to get, so Joe Burrow and Tate Martell and Dwayne Haskins and J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones and Braxton Miller and hell, Kenny Guiton can all be forgiven for treating it like one and attempting to maximize their future earning potential in what may become an NFL career.
Again, not news. But what's interesting to me is how generally drama-free the quarterback room at Ohio State has been during the Urban Meyer tenure. Not on our end, of course: Ohio State fans have elevated hand-wringing over potential quarterback starters into an art form. And not really on the coaches' end either: they've made some obvious errors in how they've handled who gets the starting job in the past
But what's remarkable is that through any kind of general turmoil, internal or external, all of the quarterbacks on Ohio State's roster have seemed pretty chill with each other, no matter who is starting. That's kind of shocking to me! Especially when you consider the level of talent, expectations of playing time, and any personal agendas that those involved might have.
So how has Urban done it? How has he been able to keep these egos in check while also maintaining productivity? Well, the fine folks at the Harvard Business Review might have a few ideas:
Set big goals. Nothing motivates talent like a big goal. Talented people love nothing better than tackling big problems. The more difficult the obstacle, the more engaged they become.
Goals like... winning a national championship?
“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.”
Okay, now we're getting somewhere! If we want to solve this riddle, achievement is as good a place to start as any. The idea that anyone can win a national championship at Ohio State was proven by third string afterthought Cardale Jones waltzing in, capturing our collective imaginations, and then reeling off three straight wins against ridiculously tough competition en route to a national title. Tate Martell is not likely unaware of the very real chance that he might be called on to do something similar.
So what's next?
Rub egos together. Smart people like being around other smart people.
Ah, that's an easy one. Keeping drama to a minimum isn't too difficult when it seems like everyone involved actually likes hanging around each other. There's been a lot of text devoted to the Cardale/J.T. relationship (especially after the back-and-forth between the two as starter in 2015), but I think this says it best:
Keep team goals first. Work to ensure that rivalries are achievement-oriented, not personal. Bruised egos are fine; hurt feelings are not.
After weeks of struggling with this decision, I have decided to leave Ohio State and explore other options. My teammates and coaches all know the love I feel for them. I will decide where I will play next year in the coming weeks.
— Joey Burrow (@Joe_Burrow10) May 8, 2018
Good luck to you brotha! Appreciate you for making me better, see you at the top https://t.co/aGUS8WpGE8
— Dwayne Haskins, Jr (@dh_simba7) May 8, 2018
I really love these tweets, because as cynical and jaded as I generally am, I 100% believe the sentiment. Dwayne Haskins has had the opportunity to play with some truly great quarterbacks, and I think he's well aware of how much he's benefited from being around them. Burrow, too, probably understands the value of having a school like Ohio State and the support from quarterbacks like J.T. Barrett (more on this later) being able to signal-boost his reputation.
Sometimes you need to invite a star to leave, however. Not because she is a malcontent or because she is causing trouble but because she needs to move on for the good of the organization as well as herself.
So maybe Harvard nailed it, and everything positive that we've seen from the quarterback position interpersonally is the result of an intricately designed plan to make sure that everyone stays bros.
Or, alternatively, maybe the Buckeyes have just gotten insanely lucky in that Urban Meyer and his staff have been adept at picking really high quality individuals to play at the quarterback position at Ohio State, and those individuals just happen to actually be really high quality people.
New Orleans Saints rookie quarterback J.T. Barrett spent three years playing with Joe Burrow at Ohio State, and with Burrow transferring to LSU this year, Barrett thinks his former teammate has what it takes to become the Tigers' next starting quarterback.
"He's really smart, tough, willing to do anything it takes to win and he slings the ball," Barrett said Wednesday (May 23) at the Touchdown Club of New Orleans' annual crawfish boil for Saints rookies. "He can throw the ball around the yard."
In truth, as long as Ohio State can maintain a harmonious and productive quarterback room, it doesn't really matter how that's accomplished. J.T. Barrett supporting Joe Burrow at LSU isn't just a fun story of former teammates reconnecting outside of Columbus, it's also indicative of the bond that they were able to develop. That they're showing that bond in Louisiana doesn't matter; it still proves to the rest of the country (and hopefully future recruits) just how much fun they had as Buckeyes.
Competition, the driving mantra of Urban Meyer's coaching philosophy, doesn't hurt either.
"I feel like I have a legitimate chance because if you're the best player, you should play," Martell said. "They've got the play the best player if you want to win a national championship."
Damn right. The good news is that whether that's Tate Martell or Dwayne Haskins at any point in the season, we've got a ton of evidence that shows that the other player will have his back.
