When the Ohio State defense has taken the practice field in the days leading up to Saturday night's matchup with Minnesota, a new face has lined up behind center with the Buckeyes' second team.
That face also happens to be a familiar one.
While Ohio State may possess the most talented depth chart in all of college football this season when it comes to signal-callers, the Buckeyes quarterback room finds itself lacking experience this week as J.T. Barrett serves a one-game suspension for an OVI citation.
Behind Cardale Jones, neither redshirt freshman Stephen Collier nor true freshman Joe Burrow have taken significant snaps in their respective college careers, seemingly leaving Urban Meyer in somewhat of a conundrum should Jones go down with an injury against the Golden Gophers.
Fortunately for Ohio State, however, a two-time Big Ten MVP at its sudden position of need has been stashed away in the wide receivers room for the better part of the 2015 season: Braxton Miller. And with his QB depth chart temporarily depleted, Meyer has opted to call on the services of the 2012 and 2013 Big Ten Quarterback of the Year to serve as Jones' backup in this weekend's prime-time matchup.
"It's a busy week," Meyer said of Miller's preparation for the Golden Gophers. "There's a lot going on."
In addition to being listed as the backup quarterback on the Buckeyes' official depth chart for the week, Miller will still fill the starting H-back role that he's played since making the move from pass-thrower to pass-catcher this past offseason. In eight games, the 6'2", 215-pounder has caught 19 balls for 280 yards and three touchdowns, in addition to rushing for 207 yards and an additional score on 30 attempts.
But just because he's now listed as the second-string quarterback doesn't mean that only an injury to Jones could allow Miller to take snaps behind center, something he's still done periodically throughout his premiere season as a wide receiver.
With Barrett out of the picture on Saturday, Meyer's use of Miller in that capacity could increase dramatically.
Especially considering that in Jones' last two starts this season, Barrett was subbed in situationally in an effort to give Ohio State a more mobile threat at QB than the 6'5", 250-pound Jones. That came as the result of surprising early struggles for the Jones-led Buckeyes offense, which ranked 108th in the country in red-zone efficiency through the first five games of the season.
While Barrett eventually took over as the full-time quarterback, Meyer seemed to bring out the best in Jones as a starter when using him in a two-quarterback system. On Saturday, he could find himself doing that once again, this time with the quick-twitched Miller taking the reins of the OSU offense inside the red zone.
"He's had an incredible week of practice," Meyer said of Miller. "He just shows up and really goes about his business."
Likely by design, Miller's teammates have remained mum on the subject of his increased role in the Buckeyes offense. That's only allowed questions to remain about whether or not Miller is a capable passer at this point in the season, as it was a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder in 2014 that brought his career as a full-time quarterback to a premature end.
One shovel pass aside, Miller hasn't officially thrown a pass since Ohio State's appearance in the Orange Bowl at the end of the 2013 season. In pregame warm-ups this season, Miller has routinely tossed the ball underhand when doing so overhand would have sufficed, further fueling speculation that his shoulder isn't yet healthy enough for a full quarterback workload.
"No comment," Buckeyes linebacker Darron Lee said when asked how far Miller has thrown the ball in practice this week.
"I'm not answering any Braxton questions," linebacker Joshua Perry said, declining three inquiries into the senior wideout's practice habits in preparation for Minnesota.
Meanwhile, the Ohio State coaching staff has insisted that Miller is back to full strength as a passer and could very well attempt his first throw in nearly two years against the Golden Gophers this Saturday. According to Meyer, the issue isn't whether or not Miller can throw at this point, but rather how accurate he would be after having spent the better part of the past year practicing as a wide receiver.
"It's a just a matter of—he can throw—how prepared is he to throw?" Meyer said. "So we're going to work on that this week as well and get him ready to go."
Should Jones go down with an injury on Saturday, it will be interesting to see whether Meyer actually turns to Miller as a full-time quarterback, bringing an already unprecedented quarterback situation in Columbus full circle. After Barrett shined in Miller's injury-induced absence in 2014, a broken ankle suffered in the regular-season finale opened the door for Jones to start three consecutive postseason games, with the former third-string quarterback leading the Buckeyes to the inaugural College Football Playoff in the process.
Jones entered 2015 as Ohio State's starter for its first seven games before turning the job over to Barrett, whose citation over the bye week has put Jones—and potentially Miller—back at the forefront of what is once again an unsettled quarterback conundrum.
At this point, Meyer has declined to discuss what his thought process will be when it comes to choosing who the Buckeyes' starter will be when Barrett returns from his suspension next week. "We'll worry about next week next week," he said.
But once again, the Buckeyes' quarterback position remains a question mark moving forward for college football's defending champions.
Could Miller now be re-entering the fray, as unlikely as it seemed? A lot of that will depend on how—and how much—he plays on Saturday.
And just how big of a role can we expect Miller to play in the Ohio State game plan in his quasi-return to quarterback?
His teammates won't tell. But reading between the lines, it appears to be a significant one.
"You'll see on Saturday," right guard Pat Elflein said.
"You'll see."
Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com. Odds provided by Odds Shark. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.
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