Sitting at his locker after the Big Ten Championship Game last December, quarterback Joe Burrow admitted that his future at Ohio State was in doubt. Then at his locker after the Cotton Bowl he reiterated those sentiments, but also made sure to emphasize that his goal is to be the starting quarterback for the Buckeyes in 2018.
Along those same lines, however, was his desire to simply be a starting quarterback somewhere.
Burrow is graduating this spring and if he doesn’t feel like he is going to win the Ohio State job, he will be free to transfer to another program without sitting out a year.
While some coaches would like to keep a talented player like Burrow in the dark in order to keep him around for another year, Meyer believes that he owes it to Burrow to let him know where he stands once spring football is done.
“Without getting too deep, we’ve had conversations with his family, but we try to be as transparent with you guys without getting too nose deep into our meetings, but the answer is probably yes,” Meyer said on Tuesday. “My first obligation is Ohio State. But not far below that is the player and the family. And so, yeah.”
Meyer’s focus is on getting Ohio State ready for the 2018 season, but he also wants to do right by Burrow and his family. Ideally for Meyer, both quarterbacks would stick around and play for the Buckeyes in 2018. As OSU showed in 2014, you can never have too many talented quarterbacks.
There are other benefits to it as well.
“Sure, I’d love to have them both in the fall and let them keep battling it out. I’d like that,” he said. “We’ve had that before, and I think it keeps people on pins and needles. And performance, it’s science, the performance is better when you have someone, young, discomfort of competition at times, that’s when you’re on point. If it’s you by yourself, sometimes you have a tendency to be complacent. That’s something that we’ve got to watch very closely.”
Meyer and his coaching staff are evaluating the quarterbacks every single day.
How does the offense move when they are in there? How do the players take to their leadership? How often do they win in their competitions?
Those are a few of the factors that will come into play when the decision is made. Now, however, that decision has been expedited. In trying to be fair to Burrow, the timeframe for finding a starting quarterback has been ramped up.
Ultimately, of course, they may not be able to come to a decision. Regardless, Burrow will still know where he stands after the spring game, whether it’s best for the Buckeyes or not.
“We’ll do the best job we can to make sure,” Meyer said. “You know, playing quarterback, that’s everyone’s dream, to be a starting quarterback at Ohio State. We’ll make sure we’re doing it right.”