COLUMBUS, Ohio — For the second consecutive year, all eyes were on the signal-callers at the Ohio State Buckeyes' spring game.
But as opposed to a year ago, the star of the show won't have a direct impact on the upcoming season.
At least that's the plan.
With his competition with former teammate Cardale Jones, who is now just limited to halftime entertainment, J.T. Barrett knows his starting job is safe, as evidenced by the Buckeyes' quarterback playing just one half of Saturday's exhibition. But behind Barrett, a battle to be his backup—and possibly his successor—has raged on throughout the spring, although based on Saturday, it may not have been much of a competition.
Quarterbacking the Gray team against Barrett's—and eventually Stephen Collier's—Scarlet squad, Joe Burrow stole the show at Ohio State's annual exhibition. Playing his snaps inside of Ohio Stadium, the redshirt freshman looked impressive, completing 14 of his 23 attempts for 196 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-17 victory for the Gray in front of a national spring-game record 100,189 fans.
"Joe Burrow has been coming on," Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer said after the game. "Last year, I had my concerns. Just arm strength, release, twitch, ability to run the ball because you have to do that. He's gotten better. He's a grinder. ... You see him starting to grow."
Based on the playing time divvied up between the two backup quarterbacks heading into the game, perhaps Burrow's breakout performance shouldn't have come as a surprise. Given the Gray team all to himself, the native of The Plains, Ohio, received a full game's worth of playing time, as opposed to Collier, who didn't relieve Barrett until the second half.
Burrow didn't get off to a good start—an incompletion to begin his first series was followed by two sacks—but by the time the Buckeyes headed to the locker room for halftime, Burrow and OSU's young wide receiving corps were clicking. In his first series of the second quarter, the former Athens High School standout engineered a six-play, 55-yard drive that ended with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Torrance Gibson.
On his ensuing drive, Burrow once again led his team to the end zone with a two-yard shovel pass to Gibson, concluding an 11-play, 60-yard drive.
"I was a lot more comfortable in the second quarter," Burrow said. "The receivers and I got going a little bit. [Running back] Antonio Williams was running the ball pretty hard, and our offense starting clicking."
Rushing 11 times for 51 yards—with an additional 20 yards negated by four sacks—Burrow showcased the mobility necessary to play in Meyer's spread offense as well as an accurate touch on deep balls like the 47-yard touchdown he threw to Terry McLaurin near the end of the third quarter.
His main target for the day, however, remained Gibson, who arrived at Ohio State as the other—and perhaps headliner—quarterback in the Buckeyes' 2015 class, having since converted to wide receiver.
Rather than playing the parts of natural enemies, Burrow and Gibson looked like Columbus' connection of the future, with the 6'4", 205-pounder catching six balls for 50 yards and two touchdowns from his fellow redshirt freshman.
"Off the charts. He's one of the fastest guys on the team," Burrow said of Gibson's potential. "We're going to keep working to build some chemistry and he'll be my favorite target here pretty soon."
Much like his first spring game, Burrow's college career didn't have a perfect start either, with Meyer admitting he had questions about the former 4-star prospect's physical tools. Despite his storied high school career, Burrow's competition—or perceived lack thereof—in Ohio's Division III left some wondering whether he was an Ohio State-caliber quarterback.
And while he wasn't without his shortcomings, including being picked off by sophomore linebacker Jerome Baker on an impressive one-handed catch, Burrow, at the very least, showed Saturday that he has the natural ability necessary to one day be the Buckeyes' starting quarterback.
"I know I can play here now," Burrow said after the game. "I know what I need to do to be the starting quarterback, and I know what I need to do to be the backup this season."
Did he ever doubt that?
"I didn't, but I think a lot of people did," he said. "I think I showed that I can play here to all the coaching staff and all the players on our team."
Saturday may have been the first chance for the public to see that, but for those close to the Ohio State program, Burrow seems to have been impressing since the start of the offseason. As early as national signing day, Meyer proclaimed Burrow as Barrett's primary backup, despite Collier being a year older and already having playing time under his belt.
With their respective efforts Saturday, that doesn't seem to have changed, with Collier completing four of his nine pass attempts for 154 yards and an interception. With the Buckeyes having needed to rely on their backup at points in each of the past four seasons, Burrow is aware of the playing time that could be available in the coming season and thus, the importance of his competition with Collier.
"I feel like I did what I needed to do this spring [to be Ohio State's backup in 2016]," Burrow said. "I have a long way to go. I'm going to keep working, and I'm going to have to show more in the fall."
That may be the case. After all, Meyer made a point after the game to say Ohio State's quarterback needed to be a Heisman Trophy contender, and Burrow obviously isn't there quite yet.
But with Barrett being a redshirt junior with the potential to leave after the upcoming season, Burrow seems to have a decisive advantage when it comes to being the next Buckeyes starting quarterback.
Whether he'll continue his progress from his impressive spring remains to be seen. But it's nice for once to finally have some clarity in a quarterback competition taking place in Columbus.
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. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.
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