Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer received a text message at roughly 6 a.m. Saturday that caught him by surprise. Meyer wasn't sure what to make of it.
“When I got up I actually called the person who texted me and said, ‘Did I read this right?’ Meyer said Monday. “Then I went about the next six hours dealing with it.”
The text message Meyer was referring to was one that informed him his star quarterback, redshirt sophomore J.T. Barrett, had been arrested and cited with an O.V.I. after he was stopped at a checkpoint near Ohio State’s campus early Saturday morning.
The news surprised Meyer because Barrett had been a player he, fellow coaches and other Ohio State players praised since the day he arrived on campus. Barrett is consistently talked about as one of the team’s best leaders. He is a team captain despite being just a redshirt sophomore.
“Devastation,” Meyer said. “He came to my house on whatever day that was, the next day. Blown away, devastated.”
Meyer wasn’t the only one who was surprised to hear the news. His teammates were as well.
“I think [stunned] is a great word for it,” offensive tackle Taylor Decker said. “We haven’t really had a ton of issues on this team this year. The bye week, I’d thought we’d made it clear that we shouldn’t have any and then for it to happen to a guy like him, that’s a perfect word for it.”
Meyer suspended Barrett for Ohio State’s game Saturday against Minnesota. The Buckeyes coach said Barrett may have a chance to start the following week against Illinois, but he’ll have to earn that right.
For now, it’s Cardale Jones behind center for Ohio State. Again.
“We’re just going to have to move on, we’re going to have to get Cardale in there and get him ready this week,” Decker said. “I even told J.T., ‘You help Cardale get ready. That’s something you need to do for us is help Cardale get ready.'”
Jones and Barrett battled throughout fall camp to be the starter for Ohio State this season. That competition was ultimately won by Jones, who started the first seven games of the season for the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes.
Throughout that timeframe, however, there was a constant competition between the two and some poor games by Jones allowed for plenty of chatter that a switch to Barrett needed to be made. Meyer finally made that switch prior to last weekend’s 49-7 rout of Rutgers and it appeared all things had been solved, but Barrett's mistake over the bye weekend revamped all that quarterback controversy talk.
The news surprised a lot of people. Now, for Ohio State, it's about turning the page.
“I was pissed when I heard that he did that, but I’ve had so many repeated experiences of his high character and him doing the right thing and him being a great person and being a great leader,” Decker said. “I’m going to move on from it. I’m not OK with what he did, but I’m going to move on from it, I’m going to forgive him.”
Added offensive coordinator Ed Warinner: “[Barrett] has a lot of banked credibility on what he’s done prior to that. Now, he has to repair that credibility with the players and coaches, which he’s in the process of doing that.”
