From hate to embrace: JT Barrett learns to love football and the pressure of winning

CHICAGO — J.T. Barrett hated football. Not only that, he’s willing to describe his loathing in detail. “Let’s talk about camp, freshman year,” Ohio State’s redshirt junior quarterback said. OK, let’s. They came to his room at 5 a.m. for two-a-days wake-up call. Barrett, a four-star early enrollee from Texas, would stare at the ceiling and wonder what he got himself into. “Man, do I love football?” he asked himself. “At the time I told myself, not really.” But hate? That’s a strong word, especially for a former Big Ten quarterback of the year who finished fifth in voting for the 2014 Heisman Trophy. But you never forget your freshman year, and Barrett’s in 2013 was apparently a bitch. “Because it’s hard, because you’re always getting yelled at,” he said Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days. “I don’t know if [former offensive coordinator Tom Herman] even knew my name. “It’s not something that you adjust to easy, I guess. I can still remember my freshman year. I didn’t like going to the Woody and that was to practice.” That Woody Hayes Athletic Center practice facility is now the foundation for something altogether different in Urban Meyer’s fifth season. It doesn’t…

Continue Reading: From hate to embrace: JT Barrett learns to love football and the pressure of winning