J.T. Barrett embodies Urban Meyer's blueprint for QB success

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Urban Meyer’s office inside Ohio State’s football facility has its drawbacks, sure, most notably a distinct lack of windows, but the poor sightlines are offset by the décor: photos of Meyer in a downpour of confetti, for example, lifting a crystal football following the last of his three national championships.

From this office, at a seat behind the controls of one of college football’s elite programs, Meyer has overseen an utterly unsurprising run. Across his five seasons are five total losses, one title and, come New Year’s Eve and the Fiesta Bowl, two trips to the College Football Playoff.

It’s unsurprising for a reason: we saw this coming. It’s all gone according to plan, to the great frustration of Ohio State’s many rivals — including Michigan, which has made enormous strides in its two seasons under Jim Harbaugh yet has been unable to crack the Buckeyes’ code.

Meyer has such a plan, in fact, that he’s already mapped out a potential successor: J.T. Barrett.

“I really believe — and people joke around — but I think he’s going to sit here one day. Right here,” Meyer said of his junior quarterback, pointing to the desk centered inside his office. “I’d love for it. I’d love for him to go play in the NFL for a while and then just sit right here.”

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To understand the role Barrett holds within Ohio State’s program requires only a slight grasp of recent history. At each of his stops — Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and with the Buckeyes — Meyer has revolved his offense around steel-backboned quarterbacks, led by Tim Tebow, with physical gifts that pale in comparison to a dossier of desirable mental characteristics.

“I’ve been lucky,” he said. “My quarterbacks, for the most part, have been those kind of guys.”

It could be that Meyer, with help from his assistants, is able to locate the one quarterback in a particular recruiting class with the makeup needed to play the central part in his offense; on the other hand, it may be that Meyer himself is responsible for developing these positive traits, an assertion he modestly deflects.

But this much is certain: As much as any starter at the position — from his first, Josh Harris at Bowling Green, through Braxton Miller, the predecessor at Ohio State — Barrett embodies Meyer’s blueprint for quarterback success.

“I think I'm good at making good decisions, making sure I'm not hurting the team as far as field position,” Barrett said, “and that's on me to take care of the football and not turn the ball over.”

It comes down to the five attributes behind all great quarterbacks, as Meyer learned from former California coach Jeff Tedford, who recently resurfaced in the same position at Fresno State.

In the summer of 2004, as Tedford was honing a reputation as a quarterback whisperer — he was mentoring Aaron Rodgers at the time —– Meyer asked if he could tag along at a camp held on campus. I want to know, Meyer inquired: When it comes to this position, what are you looking at?

Tedford ran down his list. He has to be the most competitive guy on the team, he told Meyer. He must be the toughest guy, too. He’s got to have leadership skills — and, while an undefinable concept, coaches know it when they see it.

He needs to be smart, to have intelligence, Tedford said, and he has to be able to extend plays. The other things —reading defenses, his footwork, his study habits, his arm slot, his delivery — can be learned through instruction; the rest is unteachable.

“Quarterback is the most unique position, in my mind, in all sports,” Meyer said. “There’s no other position where 10 guys are all looking at him and he’s got to basically trigger or choreograph the movement of all 11 people.”

Meyer and Ohio State found Barrett by doing their homework. He was a four-star prospect, a burgeoning star out of Wichita Falls, Texas, but four-star quarterbacks grow on trees, relatively speaking, and they all look great on film.

So the offensive coaching staff, then keyed by former coordinator Tom Herman, looked closer.

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“We go about recruiting quarterbacks different,” Meyer said.

With Barrett and others, the Buckeyes’ coaches look at fourth-down plays, not just scoring plays. They look at rivalry games. Barrett held other offers, but felt himself drawn to the Buckeyes. I don’t know if I would ever want to be watching TV and see Ohio State play for a national championship, Barrett once told Meyer.

“That’s pretty strong,” Meyer said. The coaching staff’s closer investigation revealed a hypothesis since validated by on-field results: Barrett was Meyer’s sort of quarterback.

“I know why he came here. He’s very clear about that,” he said. “It wasn’t for the tradition. It wasn’t for the college of medicine. It was the opportunity to go play for a national title.”

What’s ironic, of course, is that perhaps the defining moment of Barrett’s career to date came roughly two years ago, when an ankle injury forced the then-freshman to watch his replacement, Cardale Jones, lead Ohio State to the championship.

Barrett could’ve sulked that winter; he could’ve stayed away, emotionally if not physically. Yet he was “still a leader,” Meyer said of Barrett. And now, with Clemson less than a week away, another opportunity awaits.

A national championship — his own, not shared — would cement a legacy. After all, outside of Meyer, there has been no more central figure to this renaissance of Ohio State football than Barrett. And winning the title might be only fitting, as the next stage in a unique pairing of an elite coach and his latest star pupil.

“I know one thing about J.T. and that's if there's a chance, he'll get it,” Meyer said. “He has those characteristics. How many people are like that?”

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