Epic quarterback battle looming for Ohio State
Who will replace J.T. Barrett at quarterback?
Position battles are nothing new at Ohio State. It keeps spring practices and fall camp interesting for fans.
This year there are three to watch closely, quarterback, linebacker and left tackle.
In a series of articles, I’ll look at each competition and make a prediction on who will win the job. First is quarterback.
Gone is J.T. Barrett, the program’s record holder of just about every meaningful statistic. Depending on who you ask, this could be good or bad.
Regardless, this is the first season since 2014 that Urban Meyer enters without an incumbent quarterback to lead the offense.
Even then, he thought he had Braxton Miller until late August so this is new territory.
He and Ryan Day have plenty of options entering spring. Who will emerge as the leader?
Dwayne Haskins is the favorite. The redshirt sophomore passed for 565 yards and four touchdowns as Barrett’s backup.
His nearly flawless play in the second half of the Michigan game is what has Buckeyes’ fans excited. He helped engineer the come-from-behind 31-20 win over the Wolverines.
Haskins is often compared to Cardale Jones because he is tall and has a strong arm.
Given the offense’s inability to consistently stretch the field under Barrett, Day must be relishing the opportunity to see what Haskins can do.
The offense averaged 41.1 points-per-game in 2017, imagine what it would be like if defenses had to respect the deep threat.
Next in line is Tate Martell who is the exact opposite of Haskins. He’s an elusive, dual-threat quarterback that Meyer typically loves having run his offense.
As the scout team quarterback all season, Martell earned high praise for his teammates and coaches.
Martell has not played a real down yet, but he seems to be a fierce competitor like Baker Mayfield. That will be difficult to ignore.
The longshot is Joe Burrow who entered 2017 as the backup until a broken hand set him back and opened the door for Haskins. Whether he remains on the team or transfers is undetermined, but it seems likely that he’ll stay.
Burrow is much like Haskins, big with a strong arm. He’s also very accurate which is valuable.
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The downside is he is much like Haskins. Unless he can truly separate himself, I believe Day will go with Haskins since he showed what he can do in live action in the most pressure intense game the team plays all season.
Day stayed at Ohio State for a reason. Money and a promotion to offensive coordinator are good reasons, but the Buckeyes have a special team returning.
If this teams wins a playoff championship, it will be largely on the quarterback Day selects. The opportunities coming his way will be massive.
This competition will be epic, even better than the 2015 one between Jones and Barrett.
I suspect the winner won’t be known until the day before the Oregon State game.
Next: Things to take away from Penn State loss
In the end, Haskins will be the starter and Day will have to find ways to get Martell on the field.