Dissecting Inexperienced Ohio State Quarterback J.T. Barrett

When it was announced Braxton Miller would miss the 2014 season after reinjuring his right/throwing shoulder, I took some time to re-watch Ohio State's spring game. Redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett shared quarterback reps with sophomore QB Cardale Jones in the spring while Braxton Miller recovered from offseason shoulder surgery. Although, Jones was the No. 1 quarterback and took the vast majority of snaps at the position. However, Barrett lept ahead of him and secured the then backup roll in August.

"The offense moves better when he's in there," [Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom] Herman said of Barrett. "You can throw all the completion percentages — he's probably completing more balls and making more of the right reads in the run game.

"But at the end of the day, the offense moves when he's in and sometimes it doesn't as much, not that Cardale is doing a bad job, but the offense moves more frequently when J.T. is the quarterback, and that's the sign of a good one."

Barrett is a 6-1, 225 pound QB from Texas who redshirted last season. He suffered a knee injury in the fifth game of his senior season in high school, and his first real game since was against Navy last week. Barrett finished with more than serviceable numbers: 12 of 15, 226 yards, 2 scores, 1 pick, and 50 rushing yards. Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer categorized his play as "Okay".

During spring ball, Barrett worked mostly with second team players and operated behind a very shaky offensive line group. Meyer didn't seem to change the basic offensive strategy that he utilized with Miller. Barrett ran the outside zone read, the power read, and the inside zone read effectively in the spring game, but, as you can see in the following plays, he doesn't have the quickness and elusiveness of Braxton Miller.

As a passer, Barrett took several series to get comfortable. He appears to be most comfortable throwing short crossing routes into the middle of the field. He throws line drives with a very low trajectory, which means he will have to move around the pocket on occasion to find throwing lanes.

Barrett had a couple of nice moments throwing the football, but for the most part he struggled against the new aggressive quarters coverage concepts that Ohio State secondary coach David Ash incorporated this offseason. Urban Meyer had his offense take some deep shots to see if his receivers could beat press coverage. Barrett consistently under threw those receivers on deep balls to the outside.

Ari Wasserman of cleveland.com described Barrett playing with fire on an underthrown pass against Navy last Saturday.

Barrett made the throw that put Ohio State back into the driver's seat in the game, hitting Devin Smith on a critical 80-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Smith broke behind the defense almost as if he were unseen by the Midshipmen and Barrett found him. He gets credit for that.

But the pass was under-thrown and could have cost Ohio State the touchdown had Smith not broken a tackle. If he was led properly, Smith waltzes into the end zone. Was that play an indication of a lack of arm strength or was it just a bad throw?

If Barrett doesn't show the ability to hit the homerun ball, I would expect Bud Foster to be very aggressive with his press coverage on the outside. He will take away the middle of the field and try to get Barrett to beat the defense along the sidelines. That strategy produced big dividends against Duke, as Anthony Boone couldn't make plays on deep outs and comeback routes. He even under threw this ball to a wide open receiver on a slightly deeper crossing route.

Barrett also had numerous forced passes. He doesn't seem to feel the pocket very well and looked to get rid of the ball quickly. He forced several balls into coverage after locking on to a receiver. It didn't seem like he saw the field particularly well. Here are two examples. The first play is a simple smash route, and Barrett throws the ball on the short out even though the linebacker is undercutting the route.

Later, he nearly threw an interception as the team was in the red zone. He looks right, then comes back to his primary receiver, who fakes a fade route and works back to the inside. His receiver is blanketed and the defense has inside leverage. This isn't a good decision.

Some of those throws may come from his lack of comfort in the pocket. It was Barrett's first action since his knee injury in 2012, and he looked like a player that needed the rust knocked off. The Buckeye defense obliged him by sacking him several times. You could tell that he really felt uncomfortable with the protection on his blind side, and he rushed several throws as result.

Against Navy Urban Meyer played to Barrett's strengths. Most of the Buckeye passing attack featured screens and low-risk play-action throws. As result, Barrett had a high completion percentage (8-11 in the first half) but very little in the way of yardage (96 yards) and no touchdowns. In the second half, Urban Meyer all but abandoned the passing game, but when called upon, Barrett went 4-4 including a game winning 80 yard touchdown on a four verticals route to Devin Smith. Eleven Warriors wrote a tremendous breakdown of the play, read, and throw that I strongly recommend you read.

For Bud Foster and the Hokies, the play-action element and the down are the keys. Ohio State had success running the football against Navy in the second half. The Navy secondary started to focus on stopping the run, and the Buckeyes hit them with a deep ball off play-action on first down. If the Buckeyes are not effective running the football, the play-action is much easier to defend, and Foster can pressure Barrett into some bad throws, just like his first half interception which, to be kind, was absolutely brutal.

If Virginia Tech's defense can put Ohio State into situations where Barrett has to drop back and read the defense in the face of pressure, there will be opportunities for sacks and interceptions. Barrett can break contain, but he will only get 10 yards on plays where Braxton Miller would take it to the house. Foster's secondary is good enough in man coverage that he can really be aggressive without devoting a linebacker to spy Barrett. Foster has a track record of really rattling inexperienced quarterbacks with pressure to spark major upsets (LSU's Matt Mauck and Miami's Brock Berlin in 2003 immediately come to mind). The opportunity is ripe for a big time Virginia Tech defensive performance in Columbus.