Joe Burrow likes to say that he went to school at Ohio State and played college football at LSU. However, the starting quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals still doesn’t understand why he didn’t play for the Buckeyes.
Urban Meyer never put him on the field in a significant capacity.
Burrow redshirted in 2015, attempted 28 passes in six games in 2016 and just 11 passes in five games in 2017. He amassed less than 300 yards with only two touchdowns in Columbus.
Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett started over Burrow during his three seasons at Ohio State. The Buckeyes went 35-5 during that stretch.
Dwayne Haskins took over in 2018. Burrow transferred to LSU and immediately took over as head coach Ed Orgeron’s starting quarterback.
His first year was an overwhelming success. The Bayou Bengals won 10 games, ranked No. 6 in the final AP Poll, and beat UCF in the Fiesta Bowl. Burrow took a nasty hit during the postseason game and the defender taunted him as he writhed in pain.
He never lost again. LSU went 15-0 en route to a national championship during Burrow’s senior year and its quarterback won the Heisman Trophy as the best player in college football.
So why didn’t Joe Burrow play at Ohio State?
Now four NFL seasons removed from his time in the SEC and six years removed from his time in the Big Ten, the 27-year-old isn’t entirely sure. Burrow recently told The Pivot Podcast that he wondered (and still wonders) why Meyer never put him on the field. His time in Columbus was frustrating!
Yeah, I mean at Ohio State I was definitely questioning myself, because I thought, ‘I’m working so hard in the weight room, I’m playing really well in practice’ and I felt like nobody was really taking notice of that or seeing the improvement or how I was playing in practice.
— Joe Burrow, via The Pivot Podcast
Burrow was a four-star recruit, so it’s not like he was a no-name guy who happened to get hot at the right time. For him not to play was confusing.
I was like, “Do I have a warped sense of myself and how I’m playing or what kind of quarterback I am?” That was definitely tough those three and half years. I had so much confidence in the work that I was putting in off the field and the growth that I was having, but I felt like not a lot of people had confidence in me at that point.
— Joe Burrow, via The Pivot Podcast
To be fair, Ohio State was still elite without him. The Buckeyes were just fine. But with that being said, the eventual Heisman Trophy winner was on the bench. That is a glaring oversight, no matter how you shake it.
Even though Ryan Day would’ve preferred to have Burrow lead his team to a national championship in 2019 instead of LSU, Burrow wouldn’t change a thing.
All I had, like we talked about earlier, was the confidence in myself and the work that I was putting in would eventually come to light and pay off and thank God it did.
— Joe Burrow, via The Pivot Podcast
Everything worked out how it was supposed to. Joe Burrow was drafted No. 1 overall. He got his ring.
Still, though, the Heisman Trophy winner clearly has questions about the decision-making at Ohio State!