20-year-old Ohio State starting quarterback J.T. Barrett was cited early on the morning of Oct. 31 for operating a motor vehicle while impaired, according to the school. Ohio State has since announced that Barrett is suspended for one game, against Minnesota:
Ohio State starting QB J.T. Barrett suspended 1 game for driving impaired
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Barrett was cited by Columbus police Saturday morning at a campus area check point with a misdemeanor offense of OVI. Barrett has been suspended by head coach Urban Meyer from playing in Ohio State’s game against Minnesota on Nov. 7.
The Columbus Police Department hasn’t made any information public at this time, and calls to CPD and the Franklin County jail didn’t produce any records.
More from Ohio State site 11W, which cites sources within CPD:
Barrett was arrested near High and Tompkins, just north of Campus after policed noticed the player attempt to avoid an OVI checkpoint in the area. Per CPD sources, Barrett was cooperative and blew into a breathalyzer, registering slightly over Ohio’s legal limit of 0.08 blood-alcohol concentration.
According to school policy, a first-offense alcohol incident subjects a player to "more stringent alcohol testing," and a failed test by a player under 21 means a two-game suspension, but it's unclear whether any of this carries an automatic suspension in this case. Ohio State seems to disagree that it does:
Ohio State AD Gene Smith tells @espn because J.T. Barrett’s arrest is misdemeanor, he’s not subject to mandatory 2-week suspension
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) October 31, 2015 Barrett recently reclaimed the starting job from Cardale Jones, which appeared at the time to be an end to nearly a solid year of OSU quarterback drama. 11W also reports it was Jones who gave Barrett a ride home.
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Perhaps relevant in some way was this recent quote by head coach Urban Meyer to television host Bill O’Reilly:
‘Now a lot of the big-time teams have trouble, you know. They have kids that are in trouble for one reason or another,’ O’Reilly said. ‘Look at Jameis Winston down in Florida State. He steals some crab legs or something. But the guy’s a brilliant quarterback, so they let it go down there. I don’t think you would have let it go, right?’
Without being too specific, Meyer answered O’Reilly question.
‘That would have been hard to let that go,’ he said.
We’ll update as more becomes available.
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