COLUMBUS, Ohio — A year ago, J.T. Barrett could walk around his new city anonymously, unidentifiable aside from the No. 16 tags on his Ohio State apparel.
A freshman fourth-string quarterback, nobody would have called home to say that they saw Barrett on campus.
But in football-crazed Columbus, all it takes is one moment to go from unknown to overnight celebrity. Which is why when Braxton Miller went down with a season-ending injury on Aug. 18, it didn’t take long for the Buckeyes’ new starting quarterback to realize that his life was going to be different.
“First day of class, teacher calls your name to see if you’re here, and everybody turns their heads and looks back like, ‘J.T.’s in class?’” Barrett recalled. “Life has definitely changed.”
If Barrett’s celebrity was already taking shape back then—three days before the first start of his college career—one can only imagine where it stands now. Through the first five games of the 2014 season, the redshirt freshman signal-caller is on pace to break Miller’s single-season school total yardage record and has managed to help keep 4-1 Ohio State in the hunt for a spot in the first ever College Football Playoff.
Heisman Trophy talk may be premature, but by season’s end, the numbers could be there, as well as a potential signature win in East Lansing, Michigan, on Nov. 8. But as the buzz around Barrett builds, so does his notoriety on campus, leading to more random…
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