Quarterback Joe Burrow, who graduated from Ohio State on Sunday, just announced that he will transfer to a new school for this fall.
Burrow was locked in a battle with redshirt sophomore Dwayne Haskins for the starting job coming out of spring football.
Burrow announced his decision on Twitter on Tuesday morning.
He wrote, “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.”
As a graduate transfer, Burrow will be immediately eligible to play this fall wherever he goes.
Ohio State has the option of blocking him from transferring to certain schools. Burrow has strong family ties to the University of Nebraska, a school that appears on the Buckeyes’ 2018 and 2019 schedules.
His father is an assistant coach at Ohio University, making the Bobcats another possible transfer destination.
Former OSU head coach Luke Fickell would almost certainly welcome Burrow to the Cincinnati Bearcats. The Florida Gators, coached by another former Meyer assistant, Dan Mullen, are another possibility.
Burrow came to OSU as a 4-star prospect in the 2015 class.
He racked up ridiculous numbers as the star quarterback at Athens High School. Burrow racked up nearly 7,000 yards and 94 touchdowns passing and more than 1,400 yards and 22 scores on the ground in two seasons as the starter there.
Burrow spent three years as a Buckeye, redshirting in 2015, and backing up J.T. Barrett in 2016 and 2017.
He was seemingly set to resume his spot as the No. 2 quarterback last fall, but broke his hand during a practice in August.
That allowed Haskins to jump him on the depth chart.
Burrow played sparingly as the third-string quarterback, completing 7-of-11 passes for 61 yards.
Sunday, Burrow’s father tweeted a picture following OSU commencement with the caption “On to the next challenge.”
That prompted speculation that Burrow would, indeed, transfer.
Proud of Joe . On to the next challenge . pic.twitter.com/FUyplQhbRF
— Jimmy Burrow (@CoachBurrow) May 6, 2018
His departure leaves the Buckeyes with only three scholarship quarterbacks.
Haskins, who will now almost certainly own the starting job, redshirt freshman Tate Martell, and true freshman Matthew Baldwin.
It is possible that OSU could bring in a graduate transfer quarterback of their own this summer to provide some depth.
Burrow’s departure means that OSU is now at 86 scholarship players, one above the NCAA-mandated limit. Walk-on receiver C.J. Saunders was recently put on scholarship, but that may or may not include the Fall/Winter semester.
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
I like Joe and am sad to see him go, I wish him the best of atbhia new home!
However, this kid has wanted to be a Buckeye almost his entire life, that means something to me!
https://www.facebook.com/OhioStateUniversityFootball/videos/2353198708023567/
Good Luck Joe! I watched him in high school and was thoroughly impressed. I was happy he came to OSU, but thought then and said then that I thought that he’d never get a fair shot at the starting job. I think Haskins is a quality QB, but I thought Joe was the best option for this season. Joe was jumped by a hand injury and that sucks. Haskins had better perform at a high level or he’s going to hear calls from the stands for Martell…Haskins will feel the pressure, I hope he responds positively to it. Go Bucks!
I was a football official in Ohio when I first saw Joe play. His leadership, command of the offense, and hard-nosed approach made him stand out on the field. First pass he threw went 60 yeards in the air….dropped into the receivers arms for an easy score. Joe was and is a class act! Good luck Joe!
Very poor and a politically correct cheap and SPINELESS decision by the coaching staff.
Best of luck at Nebraska Joe.
James,
Did the coaching staff ask him to leave? Unless this is the case I don’t follow your logic.
Meyer said that by the end of spring he would have to do the right thing by Joe. Give him an answer. Even if the CEO didn’t utter the words following the spring, they were already uttered as spring ball was starting up. Meyer painted himself into a corner so if he didn’t make the pronouncement to Joe, OF that’s true I have forever lost every scrap of respect for the man. If he DID utter the words then he counted the spring game a non starter because Joe Burrow blew the competition completely out of the water. I wasn’t in Columbus this year for circumstances beyond my control, but, I was there the day he entered, and that includes spring summer and winter camps. Even before JT finished up his eligibility Joe was had the best arm on the roster. The only QB on the roster while he’s been there with a stronger arm is Cardale Jones. That includes Dwayne. Pass for pass his arm was every bit as good as Troy Smith’s. His style of operating the offense combined with his arms and legs are eerily similar to Troy as well.
I’m not saying Dwayne is a terrific QB and can’t make terrific throws, because he can. Truly I couldn’t care less WHO won the starting job as long as it was fair. Maybe we didn’t get to see all of the spring competition, but we got to see the spring game and the competition wasn’t even close. Joe was efficient and the offense executed smoothly………….just as it has every time he’s been called on for live games. It would be unreasonable knowing his start as a Buckeye that his “unseen” spring 2018 would be anything different than what is known. Especially since he capped it off with an outstanding spring game.
IMHO Joe was forced out by a coach who was derelict in fulfilling “what he owed” (Meyers words, not mine) Joe. That makes it political.
I’ll still have my rear in my seat and screaming Go Bucks every Saturday AND hoping that Dwayne lights up the stat sheets and scoreboards at home and away.
The REAL final exclamation point is when Joe inks in the early rounds of the draft when he declares.
Sorry, didn’t realize you were a program insider with insight into evaluation and decision-making.
@ James Mills…I totally agree….they wanted to try and slow walk their decision…they wanted to try and keep Joe around so that he would have to “win” the starting job when he really won it in the spring. I would like to see Joe come in with another team and put up far better stats than Haskins!
You think a “glorified” practice like a Spring Game is an indicator as to who the starter should be? Moreover, I believe Urban Meyer needs no advice from you.
It was smart that he left as he was not going to play her. He should transfer to a MAC school, this way it will guarantee him what he wants and that is playing time.
@Les Are you inferring that Burrow is not capable of playing at a school like OSU? If so, you have no clue about Joe Burrow and his abilities. He was, after all, the backup last year until a broken hand sidetracked him….its equally obvious that you did not see his performance and leadership in the spring game!
Who’s to say Burrow wouldn’t be the next Cardale when given the chance to start? Cardale was the back-up but didn’t really impress when given the opportunity to start.
Hindsight and all, the pundits are speaking. We’ll never know if this was/is best for the Buckeyes or not as there’s just no way to truly quantify what you see on the field on Fall Saturdays versus what happened in a couple years’ worth of practices.
I was and remain a Burrow fan. Haskins has the stronger arm, but not by enough to separate them and Burrow has the more accurate arm, again, not by enough to separate. What did separate them in my brief armchair evaluation is leadership. Burrow has that in spades and Haskins I don’t think has it, at least not yet.
Best of luck to Joe wherever he goes and I hope this doesn’t work out poorly for the Buckeyes. Haskins will win a lot of games with his talent, I just don’t know if he can win them with how he leads the team.
Haskins led the team to a come from behind victory at Michigan.In doing so he completed 85% of his passes, threw for 3x the yardage as JT, and didn’t commit a turnover. Not bad but it is only one game.
Regarding Burrow. Not certain how Burrow has leadership in spades when he’s only seen mop-up duty in games that had long since been decided. I’m not saying Burrow isn’t a leader but looking good in a spring game doesn’t have me fully convinced.
My hope is that both Haskins and Burrow succeed. Unfortunately Haskins will be second-guessed by some if he stumbles. Such is life for fans.
@ Andrew….Haskins has the second strongest arm on the team….a seldom if ever talked about walk-on by the name of Kory Curtis has the strongest arm! Kory even out threw Cardale!
Probably very hard for the staff to ignore what Haskins did last November at TTUN when he came off the bench in as hostile and difficult situation as could be imagined and led the team to the W. Could Burrow have done the same thing given the chance? Quite possibly he could’ve but he didn’t get the opportunity and Haskins did and evidently the rest is history. Not sure Martell is ready based upon what I saw in the spring game but as we all know that really doesn’t mean much. Good luck to Joe Burrow. Please go to any conference other than the BIG.
Good luck, Joe. Sorry to see you go but I think it is a wise move. Unless Haskins got injured there was no way you would see serious opportunities in The Shoe. Urban’s memories of the second half in Ann Arbor are too strong and overshadow your Spring performance. I hope you make the playoffs somewhere and get to take the next step.
I for one think Urban made a poor decision. This guy was a leader and spent all of his career on the bench, because Urban let loyalty to JT keep him from playing his best qb. Good luck to Joey, he’s a great kid and as loyal as they come. I hope wherever he goes he shines…
Best man plays…..Competition breeds improvement for everyone. I am glad, personally. this means Haskins (clearly the better QB) will get more reps in in the fall, and they can devise a “package” for Martell; much like Tebow when he played under Leak. GO BUCKS!!!!
Couldn’t be further from the truth. Martell is 8 years away, and Haskins is a statue in the pocket. Talk about his arm all you want. Remember C. Jones had a deep threat that caught everything, a nfl tailback; and a dominant defense. Big mistake. Hope they are ready to change the offense!
“clearly” the best qb is Haskins?? how so?? Burrows has the more accurate arm, had better spring game, runs better, seems more mature and better at leadership..OSU JUST LOST IT’S BEST STARTING QB OPTION. ..Picking Haskins ( if that is what has happened) seems like a poor choice, as good as he is…Burrows has shown he is the –even if slightly–better overall qb.. this sucks and I wish Burrows the best…but not at NEB
Slow down Ed1954. It looks like Burrow made the choice to leave the program and wasn’t told to leave or kicked off the team. I like Joe but if he chose to transfer it seems his loyalty isn’t 100% steadfast.
Amazing. I thought Burrow would get the job, and still think he should have. He was ahead of Haskins before his injury and significantly out-performed him in the spring game. To me it was a no-brainer. But… I didn’t see as much of him as the staff, so good luck to Joe. Hope he does well wherever he goes.
The Spring Game is a glorified practice….PLEASE
A glorified practice that was completely dominated in EVERY aspect by Joe. Joe has performed consistently since the day he arrived so it would be impossible to believe it was any different behind closed doors.
Terrible day for the Buckeyes but it had to happen as Urban was obviously sold on Haskins and has talked himself into thinking that Martel can be a factor if needed. For our sake, I hope Urban is right.
I wish JB all the best and hope he can win a championship for someone. As a dark horse choice for JB’s grad school choice, I would pick Texas as Tom Hermann certainly knows his capabilities.
Damn, hate to see it, but understandable under circumstances. Really would’ve liked to see him as starter this year, but obviously not enough separation to justify risk. Best wishes to loyal Buckeye.
Damn
Good move for Burrow, bad result for the Buckeyes.
I hope they block all the B1G teams… No need to chance playing against a guy with an axe to grind. Let him go down south.
Still don’t think it matters… Martell will be the QB by the end of the year… Expect a repeat of 2015 in regards to QBs…
Martel the starter? What inside intel do you have that makes you so confident of that happening?
That was the last thing I wanted to see this morning. God’s peace and blessings, best of luck, hard decision and that is an unfortunate reality of having a program like OSU with so much talent and depth at nearly every position, but please dodge other B1G teams. Thanks!
Florida does make a lot of sense. Need of a qb, Urban’s protege, similar offense.
Excellent and mature decision by Burrow. He wil now be able to practically hand pick the best situation for him. Moreover, he will likely have a far more healthy career as staying here he would have been asked to rush the football like a fullback and would have likely left limping (see Braxton, JTB).
Good for you Joe. Good luck to you, I hope you start wherever you go.