Quarterback J.T. Barrett burst onto the national stage as a redshirt freshman in 2014, when he was forced into action after Braxton Miller suffered a season-ending shoulder injury just 10 days before the opener against Navy.
It took him—and by extension, the Ohio State offense as a whole—a few weeks to find a groove and settle into a rhythm. After a Week 2 collapse against Virginia Tech, Barrett and the Buckeyes caught fire, averaging 47.4 points per game in 10 consecutive victories to close out the regular season.
In his first 12 career starts, Barrett amassed 3,772 yards of total offense (2,834 passing, 938 rushing) and accounted for 45 touchdowns, breaking the single-season Big Ten record that was set by Drew Brees in 2000.
But Barrett's magical run came to a screeching halt in the regular-season finale against Michigan, when he was tackled awkwardly and suffered a season-ending ankle injury.
That injury opened the door for backup Cardale Jones, who marched the Buckeyes through the postseason and to their first national title since 2002.
Jones' ascension created an enormous and highly-scrutinized quarterback battle for the 2015 season. Barrett was on the losing end of that battle, but Ohio State's offense struggled with Jones at the helm.
That opened the door for Barrett, who took over in the second half of the Penn State game in Week 7. But even he wasn't able to totally save the Ohio State offense from its inefficiency until the final two games of the season, when the Buckeyes adapted an uptempo offense and averaged 43 points per game against respectable Michigan and Notre Dame defenses.
In those two final games, with the hurry-up offense implemented, Barrett averaged 279.5 total yards per game and registered five touchdowns against just one turnover.
Those numbers were more in line with his freshman output. So, is this the kind of pace and production Ohio State fans can expect this fall?
Urban Meyer hopes so.
"The last two games, I want to say (it was) 80 percent tempo and it worked out really well," Meyer said, according to Eric Seger of Eleven Warriors. "We’re going to do a lot more uptempo offense than we’ve done."
That's good news for Barrett because he thrived when the pace picked up at the tail end of the season.
Against the Wolverines and the Irish, Barrett completed 60.8 percent of his passes and was devastatingly effective in the run game, chewing up 235 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
But those numbers came with superstar Ezekiel Elliott as a running mate and a loaded wide receiver corps of Michael Thomas, Braxton Miller and Jalin Marshall, all of whom will be NFL draft selections this May.
The Buckeyes will be replacing them this season, along with three starters along the offensive line and tight end Nick Vannett.
But that attrition doesn't concern Barrett for two reasons.
First, his 2016 offseason is off to a much better start than 2015. This time last year, Barrett was still recovering from his broken ankle and was limited to non-contract drills in spring practice. He was also competing with Jones—and Miller, at that time—for quarterback reps.
This time around, however, Barrett is 100 percent healthy and the unquestioned leader of the offense.
Second, and most importantly, Barrett has done this before. In 2014, Ohio State was replacing its leading rusher in Carlos Hyde and its leading receiver in Corey Brown. That's when Elliott emerged as one of the country's best running backs and Thomas broke out as the most consistent route-runner on the team.
With Barrett (as a freshman) guiding the ship, Ohio State got past its rocky start and raced its way to the first-ever College Football Playoff.
That's why Barrett is so confident about the Buckeyes offense headed into 2016.
"We have guys," Barrett said, singling out receivers such as Corey Smith, Noah Brown and true freshman Austin Mack, according to Ari Wasserman of the Plain Dealer. "That's what we do at Ohio State. We replace great players with more great players."
If he's able to fit those pieces together like he did in 2014, paired with the faster and more effective uptempo offense Ohio State plans to run this season, Barrett has the potential to put up big numbers and even compete for the Heisman Trophy.
All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports.
David Regimbal is the lead Ohio State football writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @davidreg412.
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