You hear that? That's the sound of the J.T. Barrett Heisman Trophy Hype Train leaving the station.
OK, maybe not quite yet. Ohio State isn't pushing the envelope on social media or with reporters for the redshirt junior quarterback's chances to take home the most prestigious individual honor in college football.
But Urban Meyer expects his quarterbacks to compete for the award every year. He expects the running backs he recruits to be in the conversation for the Doak Walker Award, given to the nation's best at the position. You can go on down the line — the head coach believes the guys he runs out on the field on Saturdays should be the best at what they do.
"If you play receiver at Ohio State, you have to start in the National Football League," Meyer said in April after Ohio State's spring game. "That's what happened the last -- from Bubba Caldwell at Florida to some of the great receivers we had there to carrying on with Philly Brown, Devin Smith and continued with Mike Thomas. Same thing with tight end, Marcus Baugh. You're following Jeff Heuerman and Nick Vannett. You have to be an NFL tight end.
“Being the best at Ohio State isn't good enough. I want him to be the best quarterback in the country and so does he.”– Tim Beck on J.T. Barrett
"We're not going to change our standards."
That's most of what everyone is saying around Ohio State's fall camp so far in August — despite sporting 44 players on the roster with freshmen eligibility and losing 12 draft picks from a year ago, the Buckeyes won't accept anything less than to be in position to win a Big Ten championship and earn a College Football Playoff berth.
It's a tough ask for Meyer's coaching staff, but Barrett is the main reason oddsmakers like the Buckeyes even though they only return six starters. He finished fifth in the 2014 Heisman voting, when he scored a combined 45 touchdowns, threw for nearly 2,500 yards and rushed for 938 more.
Whether or not Barrett can return to form with essentially an entirely new cast of characters at running back and wide receiver — roughly two-thirds of the touches from that season are in the NFL or elsewhere — remains to be seen. But Las Vegas believes in him, giving him 12:1 odds to win the Heisman Wednesday, the fourth-best chances in the country behind LSU's Leonard Fournette, Clemson's Deshaun Watson and Stanford's Christian McCaffrey.
Tim Beck, to no surprise, believes in him too. Again, that is the requirement.
"He needs to go out there and play like he's playing for the Heisman Trophy every single practice," Beck said Thursday. "We're not accepting mediocre days so we're out there pushing him as hard as he can. It's my job to get him to that place."
Beck added he doesn't bring up the Heisman with the Ohio State star, and Barrett said he doesn't like to think about how he needs to be the best quarterback in the country this season.
"I try to be the best me I can be and I think when I am doing that and focus on that then that can make me the best quarterback in the country," Barrett said. "Not focusing on being the best quarterback in the country, if that makes sense."
Meyer didn't really act as the conductor to Barrett's 2014 Heisman campaign until mid-November. He likely won't do so again until around the same time this fall, provided things go the way many believe they will in Columbus. Bovada also gave the Buckeyes 9:1 odds to win the national championship, tied with Michigan for fourth-best behind Alabama, LSU and Clemson.
Ohio State's leading returning receiver is Curtis Samuel, who caught 22 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns last season. Samuel is also the most decorated runner not named Barrett that returned to the program. He recorded a mere 17 carries for 132 yards in 2015.
We know Barrett is lethal with his legs because he has to be to play in Meyer's offense. But the lack of proven commodities at wide receiver make his early Heisman love interesting. Regardless, Beck knows what the Buckeyes must have from Barrett in 2016.
"Being the best at Ohio State isn't good enough," Beck said. "I want him to be the best quarterback in the country and so does he. So we constantly work on the things that he needs to work on and that's what we do."
Barrett doesn't have to worry about Cardale Jones looking over his shoulder this season. He can play free and know the starting quarterback job is his and his alone. The Buckeyes need that in order to reach the peak of expectations Meyer established with his 50-4 record through his first four seasons in Columbus.
"Right now I'm just pushing him hard every day to be the best," Beck said. "This is his team."
"Being the best quarterback in the country, that's something I guess I don't really think about," Barrett added. "Just being the best me I can be and also just being a quarterback and make players better around me."
If he does that and the talent on the outside reaches its potential, we may hear the sound of that engine leaving the station on the J.T. Barrett Heisman Trophy Hype Train in a few short months.
