How Urban Meyer and J.T. Barrett can build one more dominant offense together

It’s generally a bad idea to bet against Urban Meyer fielding a good offensive football team.

Heading into 2016, the prevailing narrative about Ohio State is that the Buckeyes have been devastated by graduation and early departures to the NFL Draft. Now the Buckeyes are plugging in green talents at almost every spot on the roster, and just three starters are back on offense: senior center Pat Elflein, junior guard Billy Price and junior quarterback J.T. Barrett. But the Buckeyes might be better off than it seems, and their quarterback is a primary reason why.

Barrett was a big part of the answer in 2014, as he stepped up big in his freshman season in taking over for Braxton Miller. But Barrett then went down with his own injury just before the Big Ten Championship and had to battle his Playoff-winning replacement Cardale Jones afterwards, both in practices and public perception.

Now Jones is gone, and the team is firmly Barrett’s. That gives Meyer a lot of options.

A summary of Barrett’s freshman and sophomore seasons reveals a player who thrived in Meyer’s heavy QB run game but slipped in the passing game a year ago.

Barrett’s limitations throwing the ball were particularly stark in an early 2014 loss to Virginia Tech and a late 2015 loss to Michigan State. In both instances, the opponent loaded the box with schemes to stop Meyer’s QB run looks for Barrett, and the young quarterback couldn’t make them pay.

However, when the opponent wasn’t able to handle the run game, the Barrett Buckeyes ran wild. Barrett ran for over 100 yards three times in 2015 (against Penn State, Rutgers and Michigan) and was the better option between himself and Jones for executing the QB run scheme that has long defined Meyer’s system.

At 6’2 and 225 pounds, Barrett isn’t as explosive as his predecessor Miller, but his sturdy build and agility still make him very mobile and highly efficient. Barrett can execute the darting cuts on the perimeter that make the normal zone read play effective, but he can also carry the ball between the tackles and run through defenders.

Here’s an example from Ohio State’s Fiesta Bowl win against Notre Dame last winter:

Plays like this seize on the advantages of having a sturdy QB who can serve as an inside runner. The Buckeyes line up their RB out wide and have him run a WR screen, while Barrett reads the backside LB and either throws the screen if he stays home or executes the inside zone run on an outnumbered box if the LB heads wide to stop the screen.

Tim Tebow combined a similar effectiveness on inside runs with greater capacity in the passing game to help Meyer’s Florida Gators go 48-6 over four years with two national championships. The only shortcoming for Barrett in matching Tebow’s brilliance has been in the passing game, including the point that Barrett does not have Percy Harvin.

Jones’ stats over the last two years show the key to their position battle and explain why Barrett wasn’t able to really lock down the starting job last season.

In addition to being an efficient and fairly explosive runner, Barrett has always had a decent command of the Meyer passing game and vacillates between throwing precise darts or losing control of his mechanics and misfiring. He’s definitely capable of making some impressive throws and distributing the ball deep or to the perimeter if the Buckeyes have some explosive skill position talent for him to tap. (Hint: They do.)

One way it will be easy to leverage Barrett’s abilities as a between-the-tackles runner will be in utilizing RB/WR Curtis Samuel. In limited snaps over the last two years, the 5’11, 200-pound junior has touched the ball 108 times for 899 yards (8.3 ypp) and nine TDs, but he’s likely ready for a much bigger role.

With big tight end Marcus Baugh returning, the Buckeyes can continue to trot out their preferred spread-I formations and mix in two-back runs with the rest of their offense. By inverting the paths of the QB and RB on the “zone read” play, they can get Samuel on the perimeter with a lead blocker while asking Barrett to make reads and cuts between the tackles:

There’s little doubt that the Buckeye run game will once again be highly effective in 2016, and the combination of Barrett, Samuel and their other tailbacks should make for a group that’s both efficient and explosive. The question will be whether the Buckeyes can generate enough explosive plays with their run game or else capitalize on its efficiency with a back-breaking passing game like they had in 2014. That would make a truly elite offense.

Perhaps the most likely way for this to happen is if the Buckeyes can find targets for their quick, spread passing attack that can turn short throws into long gains through open-field explosiveness. With Samuel likely to play a major role in 2016 and young, explosive receivers like Torrance Gibson coming up the ranks, this is definitely a feasible outcome.

At times, Barrett can nail the quick reads and throw darts that set up his receivers to make gains after the catch:

At other times, Barrett is hesitant reading the field, shaky with his mechanics or just downright reckless with the football.

Here’s Barrett with a clean pocket in the face of a Notre Dame blitz, slowly making a good read but then throwing a simple curl route at his receiver’s feet:

Ohio State will be loaded with young offensive talent in 2016 and there’s a chance that Samuel can be the turbo charger to the Barrett engine that Harvin was for Tebow’s Gators.

But the Buckeyes will face plenty of good defenses that can tighten up against the run game and limit Barrett on the ground if he doesn’t put some fear into them as a passer. The difference between a more consistent, Barrett-led passing game and what we saw in 2015 is probably the difference between a Playoff berth a disappointing nine- or 10-win year.