Ohio State Football: How Life Has Changed for J.T. Barrett

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A year ago, J.T. Barrett could walk around his new city anonymously, unidentifiable aside from the No. 16 tags on his Ohio State apparel.

A freshman fourth-string quarterback, nobody would have called home to say that they saw Barrett on campus.

But in football-crazed Columbus, all it takes is one moment to go from unknown to overnight celebrity. Which is why when Braxton Miller went down with a season-ending injury on Aug. 18, it didn't take long for the Buckeyes' new starting quarterback to realize that his life was going to be different.

"First day of class, teacher calls your name to see if you’re here, and everybody turns their heads and looks back like, ‘J.T.’s in class?’" Barrett recalled. "Life has definitely changed."

If Barrett's celebrity was already taking shape back then—three days before the first start of his college career—one can only imagine where it stands now. Through the first five games of the 2014 season, the redshirt freshman signal-caller is on pace to break Miller's single-season school total yardage record and has managed to help keep 4-1 Ohio State in the hunt for a spot in the first ever College Football Playoff.

Heisman Trophy talk may be premature, but by season's end, the numbers could be there, as well as a potential signature win in East Lansing, Michigan, on Nov. 8. But as the buzz around Barrett builds, so does his notoriety on campus, leading to more random interactions than he experienced a year ago.

"Walking to class and people are like, ‘Hey, J.T., 'sup?’" Barrett said. "And I’ll be like, ‘What’s up, man?’ It’s different.”

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It's also been different inside the walls of Ohio Stadium and the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, where the Wichita Falls, Texas, native is beginning to assert himself as more than just a standard second-year player. Asked if there was ever a moment where he saw a wide-eyed look on his starting quarterback's face, Urban Meyer didn't hesitate.

"Oh my gosh, yeah," the Buckeyes head coach responded.

That was just prior to Barrett's college debut, a 12-of-15, 226-yard, two-touchdown, one-interception outing in Ohio State's 34-17 win over Navy in Baltimore on Aug. 30, which came on two weeks notice following Miller's injury. And while he followed that with a shaky (9-for-29 passing, 219 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions) showing in the Buckeyes' loss to Virginia Tech, his improvement has been noticeable, as has his command of the Ohio State offense.

That rang especially true three weeks after the Buckeyes' defeat at the hands of the Hokies, when Ohio State hosted Cincinnati. After building momentum with a 66-0 thrashing of Kent State after the loss to Virginia Tech, Meyer placed an emphasis on maintaining that momentum following a bye week—a message that Barrett wouldn't let his teammates forget before taking the field against the Bearcats.

“We were trying to make a big focus on coming out fast," senior wide receiver Evan Spencer recalled. "He stopped the whole offense and grabbed everybody and looked everybody in the eye like, ‘Look, we gotta do this. We’re going to do it and we’re going to get the win.'"

"You could just tell he wanted everybody's attention," added senior running back Rod Smith. "And that's what he got."

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Respect might be earned with actions more than it is words, but Barrett's done a bit of both through his first five games. With at least seven games left in his freshman season, Barrett has already thrown for 1,354 yards and 17 touchdowns, rushed for 276 yards and two touchdowns, and maintained a passer rating of 186.3—good for third-best in the country.

Thrice Barrett has been named the Big Ten's Freshman of the Week and once he's been honored with the conference's weekly top offensive player award. Following his 338-yard, five-touchdown outing against Maryland on Oct. 4, the Lone Star State native was named the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award National Player of the Week, presented weekly to the top player who hails from Texas.

Not too shabby for a player who is just two months removed from having his name mispronounced by his head coach and his name mislabeled on Ohio State's website. Nowadays, you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody around town unfamiliar with Barrett, who's admittedly still getting used to life in the limelight.

“I’m just a normal person playing quarterback at Ohio State," Barrett said. "I’m not anybody special, I don’t try to be a celebrity. I’m a normal guy.”

In most cities, he'd be right.

But not in Columbus.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Ohio State Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand. All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.