Before we get all sideways and start bemoaning the end of Ohio State’s season before it begins, let’s take a strong look at two key components to quarterback Braxton Miller’s potential season-ending shoulder injury.
First, any orthopedist will tell you there is no more temperamental and unpredictable injury than a shoulder problem. And second — and most important — the guy Ohio State is paying more than $4 million a year has a strong track record of moving forward and beyond injuries.
The plan is simple: if Miller can’t play, OSU coach Urban Meyer’s ability to recruit quarterbacks to his system comes into play.
The Columbus Dispatch reported Monday night that Miller’s ailing shoulder, which was injured in an Orange Bowl loss to Clemson and kept Miller out of spring practice, could also keep Miller out of the 2014 season.
“(Miller) missed three games last year and he came back and had one of the best games of his career,” OSU offensive coordinator Tom Herman told reporters after practice Monday.
Herman thinks Miller will play this season, and if he doesn’t, J.T. Barrett, who redshirted last year as a freshman, and Cardale Don'Jones, a sophomore who has three career attempts, become the focal point of the offense. Both Barrett and Jones are Meyer recruits (Jones was holdover from 2011, but Meyer had to re-recruit); Miller was recruited by former coach Jim Tressel.
There is no more important position in the Meyer offense than quarterback, and few coaches have been able to recruit players to match his system with such success. When Meyer left Utah, he left behind Brian Johnson for new coach Kyle Whittingham — and Johnson went on to set numerous school records and lead the Utes to an undefeated season in 2008.
When Meyer was at Florida, he won a national title with Chris Leak at quarterback (whom he didn’t recruit), but also signed the two most significant spread option quarterbacks in college football history: Tim Tebow and Cam Newton.
Tebow won a national title and Heisman Trophy at Florida, and Newton — after getting kicked out of Florida — won a national championship and Heisman at Auburn.
While Meyer missed on John Brantley at Florida (one of the factors that led to his departure), the reality was Brantley wasn’t a fit for the system — and Meyer had decided to tweak his system to fit Brantley’s abilities. He won’t make that mistake again, and hasn’t with his most recent quarterback recruits.
Both Barrett and Jones are true spread option quarterbacks, and both can be put in position to win games as pass and run threats. It’s still way too early to proclaim who will start the season opener against Navy, but know this: whoever does, he’ll be prepared.
And he’ll fit the system.