J.T. Barrett’s Knee Holding Up Just Fine, Thank You

Speaking with reporters the day after the Big Ten Championship Game, Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett assured people that he would be healthy enough to play in the Cotton Bowl.

There was no reason to doubt him, as he had just played in a game six days after knee surgery, and now he’d have much more time than that to fully recover and get back to 100%.

But that doesn’t mean the OSU medical staff wasn’t very careful with his knee before and during bowl prep.

And so far so good.

“No setbacks, restrictions. Nothing like that. It’s doing well,” Barrett said.

There is no surprise that he is doing so well considering how quickly he recovered from his surgery. They have done everything they can to make sure that his recovery continues right along with his game prep, just as they did right after the surgery.

It was before the surgery ever took place that Barrett insisted he would be okay to play against Wisconsin, and probably the only people who weren’t surprised to see him take the field were those who know him best.

“No, I’m not surprised,” Barrett said of being able to play in the B1G Championship Game. “Going into it, I just prayed about it and every time praying about it, I just let God handle it and didn’t really worry about it too much and just put in the work in order to try and put myself in the position to play. After I prayed about it, I didn’t worry about it.”

Even after playing the game, however, there were some concerns that such an early return in the Big Ten Championship Game may change his recovery time for the bowl game, but there have been no issues to this point.

“We were thinking the same thing as far as setbacks or more swelling, but it has looked pretty good,” he said. “It has been getting better. If anything, I have some scar tissue they need to break down, but that’s about it.”

Barrett’s knee is being watched, but it is no longer to the point where it is a worry. In fact, there has been nothing different about Barrett’s participation in practice. He has been full go since the outset.

“I have been doing everything in practice ever since we started practice again for bowl practice,” he said. “So no restriction and it’s been going well.”