The Ohio State quarterbacks met with reporters on Thursday, including fourth-year junior — and soon to be graduate — Joe Burrow. As such, the ever-present topic of Burrow’s future was discussed at length.
The quarterback competition this spring for Ohio State football is going to be important to watch, and not just because the Buckeyes are still looking for a starter. Burrow has said in the past that if he felt things weren’t going his way after the spring, he would evaluate his options.
Those options would obviously involve looking at places other than Ohio State to play quarterback.
With spring practice currently underway, however, Burrow is only focused on the here and now.
“I’m just putting one foot in front of the other and trying to get better every day,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens. I just go into every practice every day trying to go out with no regrets.”
What ifs can drive a person crazy, which is why Burrow has no interest in wondering. His mindset is only on putting everything he has into this one competition, and if it’s not good enough, then so be it. At least he did what he set out to do.
That’s why he is still fighting, rather than just biding his time until he has his degree in hand.
“I was convinced that it was going to be an open competition and that’s why I wanted to stay and give it my best shot,” he said. “They said that they will make a decision soon, so we’ll see.”
Of course, a cynic might say that the coaches will tell Burrow whatever it takes to keep him around, but so far Urban Meyer and Ryan Day have followed through on exactly what they told him would happen this spring. The reps are being split evenly between all three quarterbacks, and none of them are being treated like the starter or the backup. The job, it would seem, is truly up in the air.
So what will be the thing that convinces Meyer and Day that they have found their man?
“I think the big thing for all of us is leadership,” Burrow said. “I think the best leader is going to win the job. Obviously, J.T. was the leader of the team last year and somebody is going to have to step up.”
Burrow has said all along that he just wants a fair shot, but does that mean he has to win the job outright this spring to stick around? What happens if the job is still up in the air?
“I’m not really sure,” he said. “I’ll evaluate it after spring ball and see what they tell me and see what our meetings are like. I’m 100% focused on this spring right now.”
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It goes without saying that this has been a difficult last eight months for Joe Burrow. A year ago at this time, he was J.T. Barrett’s backup. He then went into fall camp playing the best ball of his career. A broken hand derailed all of that.
When he went down with the injury, his future was thrown into doubt — at least from the outside. He has seen the transfer talk, he hears it, and it even annoys him that fans assume that it will be him who loses the job and transfers, rather than somebody else.
“It does, yeah,” he admitted. “For about a year, I get all of these tweets. ‘Where you going?’ ‘You’re gonna transfer. You never play.’ I see them. I don’t say anything, but I see them.”
The quarterback battle being waged in the Ohio State football facilities isn’t any different than other competitions going on elsewhere. What is different, however, is the openness with which Burrow’s future is being talked about.
His coaches know that he wants to be a starting quarterback somewhere, but they want to see him compete to be a starter at Ohio State first.
“We have a lot of respect for Joe and Joe is going to fight like heck to win this thing,” said quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Ryan Day.
“If he’s the best quarterback, then he’s the best quarterback. If Tate [Martell] is the best quarterback, or if Dwayne [Haskins] is the best quarterback… Whoever wins the job, wins the job. We have a lot of respect for Joe and Joe wants to play, and so we understand that.”
I believe that the coaches are taking every possible measure to ensure that the competition is fairly evaluated. Whatever my issues are about Ryan Day, they aren’t about his honesty or his willingness to be accurate and fair. I’m not so certain about Wilson because even before coming to Ohio State, regardless of play in camps, he had JT Barrett WRITTEN IN INK as the starter. The BEST should play regardless of personal sentiments. I don’t personally believe that’s the right mindset for any coach, and it’s a “professional” character flaw. I even think the CEO is approaching this as a wide open competition and each guy has a legitimate shot at winning the job.
Scheme being run is going to be just as important. Pro style is a no brainer. Dwayne Haskins wins that race 4 days out of 7 over the competition. Joe would finish #2. Mixed RPO and Pro Styles IMHO is split between Joe winning 4 days out of 7 over Tates 3 days. Pure RPO, Tate wins the job 7 days out of 7.
So at least in my mind what the coaches decide they want the offense to look like is going to determine who is going to win the job, and I just don’t think there will be enough data by the end of Spring Camp for the coaches to name anyone a starter. Maybe after summer camp and 7 on 7’s they’ll have some persuasive data, but not before then.
If I was advising Joe it would be to stay the course because there’s no doubt that he’s a legitimate contender to win the job, maybe even the favorite. It’s going to boil down to which guy wants it most and goes out and takes it. We’ll see what happens, but it won’t be settled by the end of fall camp.
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SPRING CAMP
We have all heard about how wonderful a passer that Burrows is, and all indications are that he is a very talented passer. My only hesitation, is that for the most part we haven’t seen his accurate passing consistently in games and further more in games that were on the line or actually meant something. Haskins, on the other hand lead OSU from behind with very accurate passing and running that took a deficit to a two digit win over TTUN there! OSU has a good problem, I would be very comfortable with all three, but my hunch is that Burrows will be a transfer and while we hate to see him, go, he will help out another school tremendously!
Haskins has the stronger arm. Burrow is more accurate. Pretty similar to 2014 when coaches had a hard choice when Braxton Miller went down. JT won the job then over Cardale Jones because “He moved the offense down the field better.” It will be the same this year. The guy that wins the job will move the team down the field better. Pretty sure it will be that simple.
Head to head throwing the ball publicly Joe Burrow threw the ball deeper than Haskins. Bother Joe and Dwayne………..and Troy Smith lagged sever yards behind Cardale Jones.
BETWEEN Joe and Dwayne.
SEVERAL yards behind Cardale Jones.
Something that hasn’t been mentioned is that if Burrow wins the job you might just save 2 qbs from transferring. If Haskins wins it there is a much stronger chance that he is the starter for 2 years. Does that make Martel decide that’s too long to wait? With Burrow he knows that he has one more year to wait before he takes over the reigns.
Also have to mention, JT may be #3 on OSU’s all time rushing attempts list but he’s also #1 in most passing categories. While there is no question it got more conservative at times than most wanted to see, it was far from a high school offense.
If Haskins is so great, he could be leaving after this year, leaving Martell as the favorite in 2019. Burrow has an easier transfer decision because he wouldn’t have to sit out. Martell would.
As much as they try to demonstrate that it’s an open competition, I am not convinced. I watched and listened to UFM salivate over the Haskins kid’s arm, as if Burrow wasn’t even at the school. I think that Burrow is at least as good as Haskins, but I also know that it will almost surely not happen. In 6yrs+ this is the only situation that has given me a bad feel about Urbs.
People who spend time posting negative Tweets against anyone, especially those with the character of Joe Burrow and many others, should have the words “IGNORANT” and “LOSER” tattooed on their foreheads.
I am actually ok with Burrow or Haskins being the starter. I think Haskins is clearly the more talented passer and simply has next level throwing ability…however, Burrow is a good enough passer (certainly better than Barrett) and he seems to be a bit more of a runner which is what Meyer prefers. My biggest fear is that if Burrow wins the job we again see a junior high concept where the QB Power Dive is the base offensive play and the QB sucks up far too many carries from the NFL caliber RBs we have. It’s almost like we need Haskins so Meyer simply HAS TO EVOLVE! Otherwise, it’s QB Power Dive again and again…just let this sink in, J.T. Barrett leaves OSU No. 3 in all time RUSHING ATTEMPTS!!! That is absolutely nuts.