As some expected, J.T. Barrett will be returning to the Ohio State football team in 2017, and Jerry Kill is none too pleased with Minnesota
The 2016 college football season didn’t end nearly the way that Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett would have liked. So that being the case, he’ll be looking to make 2017 the ultimate redemption season.
This is where we begin the College Football Blitz for Jan. 4, 2017.
One more year for J.T. Barrett
When J.T. Barrett walked off the Fiesta Bowl turf on New Year’s Eve a dejected young man following a 31-0 loss to the Clemson Tigers, many wondered whether or not we would see a senior season from the Ohio State quarterback. Wednesday afternoon, we got our answer.
In a message posted to his Instagram account, the Wichita Falls, TX native proclaimed that he will indeed be coming back for another season in Columbus. He’ll be putting that fifth year of eligibility to good use as he looks to help rise this team back up following a demoralizing loss in the College Football Playoff.
This past season, really Barrett’s first complete one as the full-time starter under center, Barrett completed 61.5 percent of his passes for 2,555 yards with 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Not as good as that dynamite redshirt freshman season we saw from him where Braxton Miller went down before the season started and Barrett was forced to step in, but not a bad season either. If anything, Barrett took a lot of flak for not being able to get the ball down the field effectively, something he’ll very much look to improve on in 2017 as he winds down his career as a Buckeye.
Final Thought: Once it settled in our minds last Saturday evening that Clemson was about to blow the doors off of Barrett and Ohio State, you started to get the indication that he was definitely not walking away. Barrett is one of the most successful Ohio State signal-callers in history, so you know he didn’t want his legacy in Columbus to be left on that field in Arizona.
That said, though, there are some issues throwing the ball that he does have to put in check, so he’d better hit that process immediately.
Jerry Kill says goodbye to Minnesota, although not as pleasantly this time around
Minnesota parted ways with head coach Tracy Claeys on Tuesday after he publicly supported the players’ boycott of the Holiday Bowl following ten suspensions being handed down stemming from a sexual assault investigation. Immediately after the decision was made, Golden Gophers players were not shy in letting their hatred of the move be known.
Well, you can add the name of the man Claeys replaced in Minnesota to the list of people who are vehemently lashing out at the school administration.
Former Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill, who will begin as the Rutgers offensive coordinator in 2017, appeared on AM radio in Minneapolis, and simply put here, he is cutting all ties completely with his former employer over the firing of his former assistant.
“I won’t be stepping foot back in the stadium,” Kill said. “And I won’t be stepping back into the university.
“We gave our best to the state of Minnesota. We’ll always come to Minnesota. My daughter is there. We love Minnesota. I’ll go to every baseball game, (Vikings) football game, anything else. But I will not ever be in that stadium or that complex. And they’re building a new complex. We had a lot to do with that. I won’t ever see it. But I wish them all the luck in the world. I hope the decision that Mark made was right. I do hope the program continues to do well. I just wish people would be straightforward.”
Kill coached at Minnesota from 2011-15, but was forced to step down last season due to health reasons. Claeys took over following Kill’s departure, and as we know now, only lasted one full season at the helm.
Final Thought: This is just an ugly, ugly situation taking place right now at Minnesota. It hasn’t been the best few weeks here for the Gophers program, and now they’re dealing with one of their more successful coaches in recent memory giving them the silent treatment for the foreseeable future.
But, as I have stated before: for publicly supporting that ludicrous “boycott” attempt, Claeys deserved to be shown the door — maybe a little sooner than he finally was. If Kill cutting ties with you is a price you have to pay, then so be it.
Next: Best college quarterback born in every state
Ben Boulware talks butt poking
Hey, remember that time Clemson beat the brakes off of Ohio State in the College Football Playoff in the Fiesta Bowl?
Now during that game, do you remember when this happened?
Yes, that is Clemson’s Christian Wilkins getting a little more action in on Curtis Samuel after a play than we cared to see. It is also an act that Wilkins apologized.
Teammate Ben Boulware, though, offered up some more thoughts on the incident that drawn some media attention since the Tigers’ beatdown.
Well, thanks for the insight there, Ben.
Final Thought: We’re talking about butt poking. Butt poking.
Okay, Monday can get here now, please.