COLUMBUS, Ohio — For all the talent Ohio State finds itself losing from last year's team—the 16 starters, the 12 draft picks and the five first-rounders—the Buckeyes have managed to remain mainstays on each email blast announcing another awards watch list this offseason.
The Maxwell Award, the Bednarik, the Rimington, the Ray Guy, the Butkus, the Outland and Nagurski Trophies—their watch lists all included Buckeyes, with more likely to be added as watch lists for the Lombardi and Wuerffel Trophies and Walter Camp Award are revealed in the coming days.
And while the sport's most prestigious individual award, the Heisman Trophy, doesn't participate in preseason watch lists, if it did, it's a safe bet Ohio State would be present on that one, too.
In fact, there may not be a better bet at this point in the almost-over offseason to win the 2016 Heisman Trophy than Buckeyes quarterback J.T. Barrett.
At 15-1, Covers.com lists Barrett as the player in college football with the sixth-best odds of winning the upcoming season's "Stiff Arm" Trophy, but even that seems to be selling short all the Ohio State signal-caller has working in his favor in the upcoming year.
While Barrett has already been present on the watch list for the Maxwell Award and is a shoe-in for the Davey O'Brien Trophy and Walter Camp Award watch lists as well, names of Buckeyes skill players elsewhere have been absent, which is indicative of the load the Wichita Falls, Texas, native will need to carry in Columbus in the coming year.
In theory, less help should hinder, not increase Barrett's Heisman chances. But whether it be with his arm or his legs, this is a player who's already proved capable of doing it all, as evidenced by his fifth-place Heisman voting finish as a redshirt freshman in 2014.
"If you play quarterback at Ohio State in this offense, you have to be a Heisman candidate," Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer said following Ohio State's spring game in April. "Or we're going to suffer."
Meyer's message may have been aimed at the younger quarterbacks on the Buckeyes roster, Joe Burrow and Stephen Collier, but he didn't have to search far for an example.
Starting the 2014 season on short notice due to a preseason injury to Braxton Miller, Barrett proved to be a perfect fit in Meyer's spread offense, setting a school single-season record for total offense (3,772 yards) and the Big Ten record for total touchdowns (45).
Embroiled in a season-long quarterback competition with Cardale Jones throughout 2015, Barrett endured somewhat of a sophomore slump, which was low-lighted by an arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated right after he had seemed to solidify himself as the Buckeyes' starter.
But Barrett bounced back to close 2015 strong, regaining his 2014 form by tallying 559 combined yards and five touchdowns in wins over Michigan and Notre Dame at season's end. Furthermore, Meyer has insisted that he'd prefer to continue to open up the OSU offense as the Buckeyes did in the Fiesta Bowl, where Barrett threw for 211 yards on 31 attempts.
"I want to make some adjustments. I want more of a balance, like we were in 2014," Meyer said after his team's win over the Fighting Irish. "We need to throw the ball. J.T. threw it 31 times. That's more what I'm looking for."
With Ezekiel Elliott and his 1,821 yards headed to the NFL, the Buckeyes may not have any other choice. Experienced playmakers around Ohio State's 6'2", 225-pound quarterback are few, which could force Barrett to increase his workload on the ground, where he's proved to be a more-than-capable runner with 1,620 career rushing yards and 22 touchdowns.
With the numbers presumably there, the rest of the necessary criteria provided by HeismanPundit.com could follow. He already plays a premier position at quarterback and possesses name recognition at a big-name school, which should give him plenty of opportunities in prime-time games on national television to state his case.
If that leads to the Buckeyes remaining in contention for a College Football Playoff spot throughout the season, it's a safe bet Barrett will find himself doing the same for the Heisman Trophy.
It may not take watch lists to figure that out, but thus far, they sure have helped show just how important Barrett will be to Ohio State—and by extension, college football—in 2016.
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. Recruiting and class ratings courtesy of 247Sports' composite ratings.
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