Ohio State Football: SE Ohio’s Joe Burrow suited for winding road

It’s been a long and winding road for Joe Burrow going from a backup QB on the Ohio State football team to a Heisman Trophy winner. Who better to navigate a winding road or an uphill climb than a guy who grew up in Southeast Ohio.

When Joe Burrow enrolled at Ohio State he knew he would have to bide his time before he saw significant playing time with quarterbacks J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones ahead of him. I doubt seriously though he thought it would take as long as it did for him to have success as a starting QB, and it would be for another school.

It has been a long, winding road and an uphill climb to achieve that success. However, he was prepared for that because he grew up in Southeastern Ohio.

Growing up in Athens County he was used to taking a winding road practically anywhere he traveled, and it may include an uphill climb. Sometimes he would come upon roadblocks along the way as well, either on the road or in life. That’s life in SE Ohio.

No problem, hard working people in this part of the state expect that to be the case and just find a way around them. That’s exactly what Joe Burrow has done.

Let’s look at his long and winding road from beginning to end.

After being redshirted his first year at Ohio State, Burrow backed up Barrett and performed well as a redshirt freshman. He completed 78.6 percent of his passes for 226 yards and 2 touchdowns, carried the ball 12 times for 58 yards (4.8 yards per carry) and another score.

Burrow had to fend off the challenge from freshman Dwayne Haskins for the backup job the following spring and appeared to do so. However, in fall camp he suffered an injury and missed several games leaving Haskins as the backup.

The younger QB had a nice season, and with his performance against the team up north to bring home a win he was the leader to take over the starting job in the spring with Barrett graduating. Haskins won that duel and Burrow decided to transfer, but not before he earned his degree from “The Ohio State University”.

He transferred to LSU and performed well during the 2018 season passing for 2,894 yards, 16 touchdowns and only threw 5 interceptions. He also rushed for 399 yards and 7 scores.

He led the Tigers to a 10-3 season including a win over UCF in the Fiesta Bowl, but the best was yet to come.

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron brought in Joe Brady this year to revamp the offense. The new offensive coordinator realized Burrow was a special QB and allowed him to sling the ball around.

The result, he completed 77.9 percent of his passes for 4,715 yards, 48 touchdowns and only 6 interceptions. He also rushed for 289 yards and 3 scores.

His outstanding season earned him the Heisman Trophy.

Just think about the road Burrow has traveled. He went from a redshirt freshman to a backup quarterback who lost that job to becoming a Heisman winner at another university.

Quite an amazing journey.

If there was a guy you thought could pull that off it would be Joe Burrow. He embodied the traits of people all over SE Ohio who followed him in high school, with many of them traveling to watch him play.

Before he ever enrolled at Ohio State, Joe Burrow had already navigated winding roads and uphill climbs. And if there would be roadblocks along the way, the Athens county native would just find a way around them.

He did just that, and that’s why those of us in SE Ohio were so proud to see him hoist the Heisman Trophy Saturday. Well done Joe.