As a quarterback, you can expect to be hated by the opposition. The quarterback is the face of the team, after all, and hate starts at the head down.
As the Ohio State quarterback, that reach can go from coast to coast. J.T. Barrett knows that and has experienced that. And when you have a 4-0 record against Michigan as a starter, that hate also stretches pretty far north.
Barrett will leave Ohio State with more records than a jukebox, and his 4-0 slate against Michigan is something that no other starting quarterback in school history can match.
A lifetime of records in a four-year span. Barrett has seen it all at Ohio State, and on Friday he will be playing in his final game as a Buckeye.
The words are as foreign to read as they are to type.
Final game.
Barrett’s success at OSU has been enough to drive opposing fans mad.
He has also driven some Ohio State fans mad along the way, and he knows it.
Learn to love the hate
— Jt Barrett (@JT_theQB4th) March 19, 2016
“I feel like I’ve been successful here being a quarterback at Ohio State,” he said recently. “There’s a lot of people that don’t like me, and don’t like the fact that it’s me playing the position, they want somebody else doing it. There’s a lot of negativity coming with the production that I’ve had.”
A lot of that negativity can be found on social media, which gives people internet muscles. And that’s probably why Barrett has had the tweet above pinned on his Twitter account for a while now.
Why the negativity?
Too many interceptions in losses? Too many carries in losses? Simply too many losses?
And sometimes familiarity breeds contempt.
There are some people nodding right along with the past few sentences.
Barrett knows there are people out there who don’t like him, but he doesn’t let it affect him negatively. In fact, he has grown to like it.
“I feel like you could have that weigh on you as a person, or you can learn to embrace and like people hating on you,” he said.
“For example, going into an opponent’s stadium, people cussing me out, throwing things at me, I kinda like it. I’m honestly doing something well at my job and you don’t like me for it, and I like that.”
On Friday December 29, Barrett will have one last day on the job as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. One last opportunity to be hated. This time, however, he’s trying to make sure it’s just USC fans cussing him out.
Thank You, J.T.! You made The Buckeye faithful proud to be a Buckeye!
Best of luck in your future endeavors!
I expect to one day see #16 on the facade at Ohio Stadium. He deserves that as his record shows. We may never see his all around equal.
Go Bucks! Go JTB!
I do know some fans who hate him – not personally, but as the QB.
People focus on what he doesn’t do well or consistently – which is mainly throwing the ball downfield with zip and accuracy. But what he does well, he does very well – and not all of that is obvious. You hear a lot about his leadership, and people can see his scrambles and designed runs. But not sure many fans appreciate how accurate he is on his reads for the zone options and when he checks out of a bad run play. His threat as a runner helps open up a lot of other offensive concepts. He shows his toughness on those 3rd and short carries that move the chains.
I told my buddy that he will be missing JT next year when OSU gets 1 yard on 3rd and 2. His reply? “Not if we lose every game.” Not sure that’s hate, but it sure isn’t love.
Boo Hoo Hoo. Nobody hates Barrett, that’s snowflake stupidity. Very few people want or wanted him replaced. That accusation and those sentiments are produced by writers who want to create a false narrative. JT has been successful at Ohio State and admired by everyone for his leadership skills, toughness and desire. He just can’t throw the football worth a damned.
Pity party for JT Barrett on aisle 2. Waaaaaaaa
The writing is based around Barrett’s own words, fwiw. He would know.
Yes Tony, none of us have access to JTs email account or his personal encounters (although I doubt he finds himself flooded at OSU by people screaming “I hate you”!) He’s also engaging in good old fashioned personal motivation, which does NOT have to be based on reality- after all, he’s trying to motivate himself to improve. Its fluff that I at least tried to steer in the right direction in my first comments. The story this week is “Beat USC”- how to do it, how to avoid another loss, maybe even in depth analysis (gasp!). Anything else is foolish.
Laughable comment. Of course LOTS of so-called Buckeye fans have called for him being benched. They have been highly critical of Meyer for not doing so. If this is news to you, you are not paying attention.
Although a thread along this concept is running in another recent O-Zone article, I will point out that I don’t know a single OSU fan who “hates” JT Barrett. This article does correctly point out why a lot of opponents do, however.
The real focus needs to be on USC and a way to actually beat them with this year’s team. In my OSU viewing history, USC was the opponent in the single most devastating loss I know- the 1980 Rose Bowl. Both teams were loaded and the Bucks came up one point shy, 17-16, after leading much of the game in (naturally) USC’s back yard. That game was truly heartbreaking, not humiliating (like Clemson last year) or unexpected (like Iowa this year or MSU 1998).
Here’s a little hint for the faithful who are eager for an OSU win, and which is in fact grounded in reality. If OSUs offensive brain trust insists on making JT the primary ball carrier and falls back on meaningless parallel to LOS scrimmage passes/ignoring the tight end – and couples that with spotty special teams kick coverage like we’ve seen this year- its a perfect recipe for a USC win. Now that’s something I’d “hate” to see. I’m going to root like heck for every Buckeye including JT of course, but the result of this game will likely be decided by our game planning. Cross your fingers and Go Bucks!