College Football: Top 50 players for 2017

Is  J.T. Barrett is under-rated? Quite possibly. The commander of the Ohio State offense had a rather up-and-down 2016 campaign, but when he was on his game it meant trouble for his opponents. Barrett and the Buckeyes gutted Oklahoma 45-24 behind his four passing touchdowns. He had his fifth 4+ touchdown performance later in the season against Nebraska, a game in which Ohio State won 62-3.

Barrett topped 300 yards passing in a game just once in 2016 and exceeded 250 yards only three times. His numbers were limited, not by his ineffectiveness, but because of the dominance of the Ohio State running game. The Buckeyes were 11th in the nation in rushing yards per game. A little more than a quarter of those 3,188 team rushing yards were gained by Barrett.

While he might not be as quick as some of his predecessors like Braxton Miller, Barrett still averaged 4.1 yards per carry on 15.6 carries per game. He was 55th in the nation in carries per game, higher than several 1,000 yard running backs. Ohio State returns one of those such players, sophomore Mike Weber. A backup to NFL draftee Curtis Samuel, Weber still managed a tremendous freshman season.

The Ohio State offense is going to be more than formidable in 2017 and once again Barrett will lead the charge. With marquee games against Oklahoma, Penn State and Michigan he’ll have plenty of opportunities to enter the Heisman conversation.