In my mind, it’s a two horse race between Barrett and Jones. Miller was fantastic during his time as the starter (plays like this, for example), but he’s also the lowest upside pick. He will be a redshirt senior next season, and although his past performance would indicate him the safest choice, I think he’s the first to be eliminated in the three way race due to the sheer upside of the other two. Barrett will be a redshirt sophomore in the fall, Jones a redshirt junior. Jones, however, isn’t your typical redshirt junior. He’s only three starts into his college career (albeit, three pretty major starts), so there’s still a sense of uncertainty surrounding him. Barrett has the more complete body of work between him and Jones, despite being the younger of the two. However, the potential that Jones showed during those three starts was out of this world. He’s a massive, physical, bull-dozing type quarterback who has an absolute rocket launcher attached to his right shoulder. With the dominate run game that Elliott brings to the table, Jones seemed to fit perfectly. As long as he wasn’t making mistakes, Ohio State’s offense looked absolutely unstoppable. Barrett is not nearly the imposing presence that Jones is (Barrett is 6-1, 225. Jones is 6-5, 250. That’s almost like the difference between Drew Brees and sCam Newton. Brees is a little smaller than Barrett, but you get the point), but he’s also seemed to be more likely to make the right decision on each play. You got the sense from watching Jones that he’s still incredibly raw and, although he can make your jaw drop (such as by running over a 300 pound nose tackle in the National Championship game…), will make the occasional bad decision. You didn’t get that sense while watching Barrett.
I’d expect Meyer to not rush anything if all three return in the fall. Some sort of timeshare from the Buckeyes to begin next season during non-conference play would be very likely. They open their quest to defend their title September 7, looking to avenge their only loss from this season in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech. They then play Hawaii, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan (all at home) before opening up B1G play at Indiana. Meyer will probably use those first four games as a chance to see what each of the three quarterbacks brings to the table, and then name a full time starter before the Indiana game. I think it’ll be Barrett, but whoever Meyer decides to go with has a great chance of leading this young, talented Buckeyes team back to the national title. Then again, we had already crowned a young, talented Florida State team as back-to-back champs after last year’s national championship game. Football’s a funny game. We’ll just have to wait and see. Until then, congrats again, Ohio State.