In all of the years I have been watching college football, I have never seen anything like the current Quarterback situation in Columbus, Ohio.
There’s obviously been some quality coaching going on at Ohio State for the last few seasons, or since the arrival of head coach Urban Meyer and his Quarterback coach, Tom Herman.
We all know about Urban Meyer, but how much of the success at the Quarterback position was about talent, and how much was about Meyer, or Offensive Coordinator/Quarterback coach Tom Herman.
I have a personal interest in Tom Herman because his first coaching job was at Sam Houston State where he was the Wide Receivers coach and he coached my nephew, Justin Taylor.
Justin Taylor is now the head football coach of a small Texas high school, Christoval.
After the national championship game, Herman left Ohio State to take over as the new head coach of the Houston Cougars.
Either the Buckeyes have been extremely lucky with their last 4 Quarterbacks, or Herman is an incredible Quarterback coach.
Will Herman’s leaving effect next year’s Quarterback play? We will soon find out.
Current Ohio State Quarterbacks Braxton Miller from Huber Heights, Ohio and Cardale Jones from Cleveland were members of former Buckeye coach Jim Tressel’s last recruiting class in 2011.
Former Ohio State Buckeye Quarterback Kenny Guiton from Houston, Texas was a member of Tressel’s class of 2009. Guiton would come in handy later on for the Buckeyes.
Braxton Miller started at Quarterback for the Buckeyes in 2011. Tressel had resigned right before the 2011 season and Defensive Coordinator Luke Fickell took over as interim head coach and the season was a disaster.
The Buckeyes had gone 106 – 22 under Jim Tressel including a 12-1 season in 2010 which Ohio State had to forfeit for NCAA violations. When the Buckeyes went 5-6 on the field in 2011, that was just almost unheard of in Columbus, Ohio.
One of the bright spots of a dismal 2011 season was true freshman Quarterback Braxton Miller. The other Quarterback in that 2011 recruiting class, Cardale Jones, went to Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia instead of Ohio State.
Miller did not put up exceptionally good numbers that season, throwing for 1,159 yards and 13 Touchdowns. He also ran for 715 yards and 7 more Touchdowns. In reality, Miller was a freshman right out of high school and played like one in the early part of the season. As the season wore on, Miller did improve and had a good game against the Buckeyes chief rival Michigan in a losing cause.
Everything changed in 2012 and the arrival of new coach Urban Meyer and his coaching staff.
The 2012 Ohio State Buckeyes went 12-0 with now experienced Braxton Miller leading the way. Miller threw for 2,039 yards and 15 Touchdowns while running for 1,271 yards and an additional 13 Touchdowns.
2013 was much of the same thing up until the Big 10 championship when the Buckeyes lost to a very good Michigan State Spartans team, 24-34.
Then, they lost in the Orange Bowl to Clemson in a fantastic game, 35-40.
The Buckeyes won 24 games in a row before finally losing to the Spartans. Braxton Miller missed 3 games and Kenny Guiton took over and this is where coaching on the Buckeyes has been impressive. Guiton came in and the Buckeyes didn’t miss a beat. He hit nearly 70% of his passes and threw for 12 Touchdowns and nearly 600 yards in 3 games.
Miller, despite missing 3 games, threw for 2,094 yards and 24 scores. Miller ran for an impressive 1,068 yards and 12 Touchdowns.
Over 3 seasons, Miller threw for over 5,000 yards and ran for over 2,700 and threw and ran for a combined 81 Touchdowns.
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Braxton Miller was primed and ready for a spectacular senior season in 2014.
Instead, 2014 started off with news that Braxton Miller had injured his shoulder and would miss the entire season.
In Urban Meyer’s first recruiting class of 2012, he brought Cardale Jones back in from the military academy. Jones redshirted his first season in Columbus.
In 2013, Meyer signed JT Barrett from Wichita Falls, Texas.
Jones was named the back up Quarterback during the 2014 Spring practice, but Barrett moved redshirt freshman moved ahead of Jones in the Fall.
When Braxton Miller was lost due to injury, Barrett was forced to start.
Like Miller, Barrett was off to a slow start. The Ohio State Buckeyes beat Navy in their opener, but then lost to a very average Virginia Tech in game two.
Barrett and the Buckeyes recovered nicely and the rest is history. Barrett threw for 2,834 yards and 34 Touchdowns. Barrett also ran for another 938 yards and 11 scores.
Barrett was injured against long time nemesis Michigan, and Cardale Jones was thrown into the fire.
The Buckeyes won the Big 10 Eastern Division with an 8-0 conference record and would have to face the Wisconsin Badgers and their record setting Running Back Melvin Gordon. The Buckeyes would have to face the Badgers without starting Quarterback JT Barrett.
The Badgers were favored in this game.
Needless to say, the odds makers were wrong as the Ohio State Buckeyes blew the Wisconsin Badgers almost off of the map with a 59-0 thrashing.
Not only did the Buckeyes destroy the Badgers but the Buckeyes also destroyed any chances that TCU or Baylor had of making the playoffs.
Cardale Jones threw for 742 yards and 5 Touchdowns in Big 10 Championship, and wins over Alabaman and Oregon while leading the Ohio State Buckeyes to the first ever college football championship.
Now, the Spring of 2015 is coming up and Spring practice is right around the corner. Coming back next season is senior Braxton Miller, junior Cardale Jones and sophomore JT Barrett.
Miller has the most experience, but either Jones or Barrett are the more talented players.
In all of my years of watching football, I don’t recall a college football team returning that many star players at Quarterback.
Most people think that either Cardale Jones or JT Barrett will win the starting job while Braxton Miller will come in third.
It’s a good situation to be in for Ohio State. But, I will admit that I wouldn’t want to be the one to decide who plays and who doesn’t.
Urban Meyer makes the big bucks. This decision is his and his staff’s to make. I’d much rather be in Meyer’s position than several other schools that lack any talented Quarterbacks.