By Ronald N. Guy Jr.
“One of the jobs of a coach is ‘Let’s worry about
today’…down the road, I think we’re going to be a very good team.”
Ohio State University head football coach Urban Meyer spoke
those words during an interview on ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike In The Morning”
show…on August 20, 2014. It sounded
like a bunch of coach speak, obligatory and desperate dribble offered to
placate restless fans and to reassure a roster of young men facing a season in
peril. The thing is, only blind homers
or those too young to know any better believe it. Whether Meyer did or not matters little now; he’s officially a
prophet, a football psychic.
A season-ending shoulder injury to Braxton Miller, Ohio
State’s all-everything starting quarterback prompted that August interview with
Meyer. Miller had led the Buckeyes to
an Orange Bowl victory the prior season and was considered a serious candidate
for the Heisman Trophy in what would be his senior year. That was until an innocuous pass during
non-contact drills shredded his surgically repaired right shoulder. With four new starters on the offensive line
and lacking the prior season’s leading rushing and wide receiver – consequences
of graduations – Ohio State seemed particularly ill prepared to absorb the loss
of its best player. But the cosmic
allocation of poor fortune never considers its victim’s circumstances. Ohio State would just have to deal with the
unfortunate and likely fatal extraction of Miller from its lineup.
True to his word (as if he had a choice), Meyer penciled in
backup QB J.T. Barrett, a redshirt freshman.
True to the reality of the situation, the Buckeyes struggled early,
losing their second game by two touchdowns to a mediocre Virginia Tech
team. Surely that was it. Season over. Ah, but back to Meyer’s words: “…down the road I think we’re
going to be a good team.” The loss to
Virginia Tech proved to be their last; Miller’s injury, however, wasn’t their
last brush with adversity.
As is well known now, Barrett broke his ankle in the season
finale against Michigan, necessitating the introduction of Cardale Jones, the
third string quarterback, to the nation in the middle of a potential
championship run. Jones led the
Buckeyes to a 59-0 drubbing of Wisconsin the conference championship game, a
42-35 victory over top-ranked Alabama in the national semifinal and a 42-20
defeat of Oregon in the national championship game.
Of course he did. Of
course some unknown kid, buried deep on the depth chart in August and thrust
into a stressful, seemingly no-win situation, stepped onto the sport’s biggest
stage, played out of his mind and rescued Ohio State’s fairytale ending from
misfortune’s zealous clutches.
I’m trying to think of a comp (real estate term) – a
comparable player. I got nothing…all
blanks. In all my years of watching
sports I cannot recall anyone being given such an improbable opportunity and
seizing it so completely. Jones started
the season with little expectation of seeing a snap. Instead he took the most important snaps of the season with no
advanced warning and after being on ice (i.e. holding a clipboard) for
months. He had no learning curve, no
chance to fail or to grow into the role.
It was “here, Cardale, it’s yours.
Good luck. Everyone’s counting
on you…the entire season is on the line.”
Jones stepped in, played with a veteran’s poise and
delivered the national championship.
You can’t do that without consistent focus and preparation – and
uncommon amounts of both for a 20-something college student who had thrown all
of two passes prior to this season.
Talent isn’t enough, not on that stage and not against the teams Jones
and the Buckeyes faced.
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