40 best Ohio State football players this century, ranked

Best Ohio State football players this century 10. J.T. Barrett – Quarterback 2014-17

And this is the player that replaced Miller at quarterback, and what a player he was. He started basically for four straight seasons outside of an injury-plagued season where Cardale Jones took over. Jones was given the starting role at the start of next season, but Barrett was so good that he took it back from a national champion.

Barrett did so many things during his time at Ohio State. In every year he didn’t get injured, he was a first-team All-Big Ten selection. He was a three-time Griese–Brees Quarterback of the Year winner as the best in the Big Ten.

Barrett finished his career with 25 Ohio State records. Some of the single-season records have been broken by the ridiculousness that was Dwayne Haskins. He was responsible for 147 touchdowns in his career, more than anyone in the history of the Big Ten. His numbers are eye-popping, and he did it for four seasons in Columbus. It’s rare a quarterback like this stays around this long, but there were some questioning his NFL chops, so he stayed where he was wanted.

What makes Barrett really stand out is his 4-0 record against Michigan. No quarterback on either side of this rivalry has ever done that, and they may never do it again. Barrett was dominant against the Wolverines, although he did miss the end of one game with an injury. Even if “J.T. was short” (which he wasn’t), he was always great against the Wolverines. In those three and a half games, Barrett had seven rushing touchdowns and three passing touchdowns. He only had one interception. He was great against the Wolverines.